It's Not Easy Being an Idol
by Shannon4FB
Summary: The American Idols of season seven never saw it coming! They were just normal people before getting lost in the American Idol studio and being held hostage by Simon! STARRING: David Archuleta, Carly Smithson, Jason Castro, Danny Noriega, etc.
1. Guess What I Saw

**It's Not Easy Being an Idol**

A story about love, friendship, and the power of music

The popular story is finally here!

**Chapter 1: Guess What I Saw**

It was a fine day in San Francisco when Danny Noriega woke up. His eyes thrust themselves open and he immediately went to the window to see this marvelous day. The sun was shining, the bees were buzzing happily through their hives, and the birds were chirping softly. Danny immediately opened his bedroom window and sniffed the sweet smelling air and let it rush to the nostrils of his fairly large nose. Too bad it was about to be ruined for Danny because the minute he was about to bless this day, David came out and yelled, "Danny! It's time to go to work!"

Danny's smile then immediately turned to a frown. He almost forgot that he had work today. And to make things worse, he had to work all day with one of the most annoying neighbors in all of San Francisco: David Archuleta. _Why me?_ he asked himself as he took off his night cap and put on his uniform shirt. _Of all the days I have to work, why does it have to be today? Why did I ever employ to be a cashier at The Cooks in the Kitchen? And why in heaven's name do I have to work, live next to, and deal with that annoying, midget, hyperactive pain in the butt known as David?_ As soon as he got dressed, he left his house and walked to work with David. For some reason, David seemed happier and more hyper than usual, which was usually bad news for Danny because that usually meant that he'll talk five times as much as he usually does. He didn't want him talking too much while they were at work, so he decided to get it out of the way by asking "Okay, David. What's on your mind, dare I ask?"

Then David's smile grew real big. Like freaky big. He really wanted to tell Danny what happened yesterday, but he was too excited to say anything so all he did was giggle. Then he finally said, "Do you know what I went to see live yesterday?"

Danny looked at the kid like he was some sort of weirdo. Then he decided to continue by saying, "No. What did you see?"

David giggled some more. "I'll give you a hint. It's a reality show. This was the season final."

"Tell me."

"No. You'll have to guess."

Danny sighed. He hated guessing games. Especially when he had to guess something that was on David's mind, but he decided to humor him. "Uh... _Dancing With the Stars_?" David didn't answer, but he shook his head. "No? Okay, uh... _Are You Smarter than a Fifth Grader?_" He shook his head again. Danny was running out of guesses and was getting even more annoyed with David's giggling. "David! Just tell me!"

David couldn't contain his excitement any longer! He had to tell or else he'd explode! Then after giggling uncontrollably for about 20 seconds, he finally shouted, "_**I WENT TO SEE THE AMERICAN IDOL: SEASON SEVEN FINAL!**_"

Danny rolled his eyes. He never really liked American Idol. He thought it was just another overrated reality show that didn't deserve the attention it got. This was probably why he wasn't a fan of Kelly Clarkson, Jordin Sparks, Carrie Underwood, Kellie Pickler, or Chris Daughtry. But David thought just the opposite of it. He loved it! He loved the contestants, the judges, the host, everything! Sometimes he and his best friend Jason even pretend that they are Randy Jackson and Simon Cowell and that David's dog Archy was a contestant. They tried time and time again to convince Danny to play the part of either Ryan Seacrest or an audience member, but so far they haven't gotten him to do it once. Sometimes they even got Carly to play as Paula Abdul, but most of the time she's too busy with her artwork to play and only came out a few times.

During work, David didn't keep his mouth shut for one millisecond. He kept going on and on about how great the show was. He talked about the performances, the judge's comments, the flashbacks and every single little detail that made it one of the best shows ever. Danny couldn't take much more of David's non-stop chatter. _I swear I'm going to kill myself if he does this tomorrow!_ he thought. In the afternoon, more trouble came: Jason Castro. Danny thought he'd come for his usual afternoon Super Personal Pan Pizza Deluxe with extra everything, but that wasn't why he came. The minute he stepped into The Cooks in the Kitchen, he immediately shouted, "**David!**"

David's head appeared through the window behind Danny. "**Hey Jason! Did you see the **_**American Idol**_** season seven final?!**"

Jason immediately came up to the window David was sticking his head out of. Then they started shouting just like the day when Mr. Cook thought he was going bald. "**Yeah! I saw it live! It was awesome!**"

"**Me too!** **Did you get your tickets online?!**"

"**Yeah! Did you see the part where Randy Jackson said he wants to sticks a sword through Simon Cowell?!**"

"**Yeah! Did you stay after the show to see Jordin talking with the audience?!**"

"**Yeah! Did you see the part where Sabrina Bryan tripped and fell?!**"

"**Jason! That didn't happen! You're thinking about **_**Dancing with the Stars**_**!**"

"**I am?!**"

"**Yes! You are!**"

"**Really?!**"

"**Really!**"

"**Really?**"

"**Really!**"

Danny had had it! It was bad enough with David, but Jason had made things ten times worse! He couldn't hold in his anger any longer, so he finally shouted, "**WILL YOU TWO SHUT UP ABOUT THAT STUPID**_** AMERICAN IDOL **_**SHOW ALREADY?!**"

Then everyone at The Cooks in the Kitchen stopped what they were doing and turned their heads to Danny. David and Jason gave Danny a shocked look. Their mouths hung open for a few seconds. _Did Danny really call American Idol... a stupid show?_ David's eyes grew so big and were practically popping out of their sockets! _Did Danny really mean that? Did he really think that American Idol was nothing more than... a stupid show?_ He couldn't believe it! Then one of the customers stopped the silence by going up to Danny and saying, "You sicken us true _Idol_ fans! Come on guys! Let's go somewhere with employees that really care about us fans of _American Idol_." The customers nodded in agreement and left.

During this, Mr. David Cook was busy counting his money until an alarm went off. "What?! What's this?!" he shouted. Then he went to a thermometer-like device on the side of the wall that read out of how many customers were currently at The Cooks in the Kitchen and noticed that the thermometer rapidly dropped from "Better than McDonald's"(about 35-40) to "Ghost Restaurant"(5-0). Mr. Cook grinded his teeth. "Either this thing needs to be fixed, or someone's gonna be sent to the unemployment building!" Then he immediately burst out of his office (and going through the door instead of opening it, but he was so mad that he didn't care), he immediately turned to the only people that were left in the restaurant: David, Danny, and Jason. He came up to the three of them and said, "Okay! Which one of you three got rid of my well-paying customers?! It's gotta be one of you three 'cause it usually is!"

"Danny just yelled out to everyone that he thought that _American Idol_ was a stupid show and everyone got mad and left!" David blurted out.

"Well it's true," Danny said defensively. "It's a dumb, overrated reality show that doesn't deserve the attention it's getting!"

"Jason! Cover your ears! We're too innocent to hear such vulgar language!" Then David put his hands over his tiny ears and Jason did the same with his dread-lock covered ones.

Mr. Cook was not amused with Danny's most recent action either, though it was for getting rid of his customers instead of calling _Idol_ stupid. "Well the next time you think about expressing your opinion, _**don't do it in front of my paying customers!**_" Cook shouted. Then Cook looked around and sighed. "Well, seeing how all of my customers won't be coming back for the rest of the day, I suppose you guys can take the day off. But I expect you to be here tomorrow, got that?"

"Thank you, sir!" David said as he placed his hand over his heart. Then Cook left to see what he could do about fixing the door to his office that he broke in his outrage. Then David immediately left the kitchen and went right up to Jason. "I guess we're gonna play _Idol_ earlier than usual today Jason. I guess that means we can play longer than usual too!"

"Hooray! Oooh! Oooh! I call Randy Jackson! I call Randy Jackson!"

"No fair Jason! I wanted to be Randy Jackson today!" Then he shrugged. "Oh well. Being Simon Cowell isn't so bad either. Come on buddy! Let's go visit Carly's house to see if she can play as Paula today."

"Okay." Then Jason ran out of the Cooks in the Kitchen and headed towards Carly's house. Then David turned to Danny. "Danny. Before I leave I want to tell you that I feel sorry for you."

David's words surprised Danny. David? Sorry? For him? These words rarely worked together in his vocabulary. (And by rare, I mean _rare_.) Then Danny looked at the child with a friendly look. "Sorry? For me? Really?"

"Yeah. I feel sorry for anyone who doesn't like _Idol _because they don't know what they're missing."

Then Danny's sympathetic look turned back to his usual pessimistic one. "Oh. That again."

"Yeah. Hey Danny? I know you're not gonna like this if I ask you, but..."

_I probably won't, but I'll hear it anyway,_ he thought.

"Will you come and play as contestants with us?! You see, Jason, Carly and I have never really play as anyone else other than Randy Jackson, Simon Cowell, and Paula Abdul and it gets kinda repetitive after a while without somebody else to play with as a different person. So can you play with us today? Please?"

Danny would usually say no to his offer, but he knew if he didn't go with it that David would go to the limit to get him to play the rest of the day, and he didn't want to go through that for the five hundredth time. So he sighed and said, "Alright. I'll play as contestants."

This time David was surprised. He didn't expect Danny to say yes, especially since Danny openly admitted that he hated _American Idol_. "Really?!"

"Sure," he said flatly. "Just as long as I don't do anything stupid."

Then David had a sudden outburst of energy as he jumped into the air and shouted, "Hooray!" Then he touched back down. "I've always wanted you to say that! Come on! We've got to get to April Border so that we can start playing right away!" Then he immediately grabbed Danny's arm and darted to April Border.


	2. Count Me In!

**Chapter 2: Count Me In!**

Carly was sitting on the picnic bench in her backyard working on a painting. Carly was an artist who would paint pictures for businesses, restaurants, and other places. She would also sell some of her art at auctions. The painting she was working on was her latest: Metallic Flower. It was supposed to be a painting of a vase with a rose, a daffodil, and pansy inside of it. But the vase was metallic, along with the flower stems and the water dripping off of them. Once Carly finished touching up her painting, she took a picture of it, and hooked her camera up to her laptop. Carly then went to a website called and the site would rate her painting from one to ten. Carly did this quite often in order to see if her art was worth selling. "I hope this one's better than my last painting," she said to herself in her natural Irish ascent as she clicked on the analyze button on the site. The site began scanning the picture of her painting. It didn't respond for a few minutes, and then her laptop started to make whirring noises. Then it started vibrating violently. "Huh? What's up with this thing?!" She tried switching the laptop off, but the small button on the side of it cracked and broke off. "Oh God. That ain't good!" Then the machine starting jumping and spewing out smoke from the jacks. Carly didn't like the looks of how her computer was reacting to her art and she had to do something quick before anything else happened, so she took a deep breath, turned her hands into fists and beat the shit out of her laptop until it was scrap metal. "Well, looks like I'm gonna need a new laptop!" she said, then looked at her digital camera, "And a new camera!" She sat down with a huff, picked up her laptop and tried to figure out what to do with it, then Jason suddenly popped up out of what seemed like nowhere, and started running towards Carly.

"Carly! Carly!" he shouted happily, "Wanna go play _American Idol_?!"

Carly looked at the man with the dreads. She knew that David was usually working at the Cooks in the Kitchen by now, and she secretly loved it when David was there. "Sorry Jason. I'm a little busy with my broken laptop right now," she told him. "Maybe later on when David's back from work."

"But David is back from work!"

Her ears perked up at the sound of his name. Just hearing David's name made her heart feel light and joyful, but she didn't want to show it in front of Jason so she tried to act as normal as possible. "Back from work? Already?"

"Yeah. Mr. Cook told him that he and Danny could have the day off seeing how Danny drove away all the customers," he explained.

Carly raised an eyebrow. "What'd in the name of Ireland did he do to drive them all away?"

"He told everyone that he hated _American Idol_."

Carly gasped! She didn't know Danny hated that show. Most of the people in San Francisco that she knew of were all fans of the show. Mr. Cook's brother Adam practically worships Kelly Clarkson. David has at least half a dozen posters for all seven seasons inside his bedroom. Mr. Cook has a model of the chest with cursed Aztec gold that Randy had, sitting at the foot of his bed. Jason had a life-size manikin of Ryan Seacrest made out of mushroom and olive pizza until he got hungry and ate all of it. She had even seen Michael Johns drawing a picture of the epic battle between Randy Jackson and Simon Cowell on the back of the We Will, We Will, Feed You restaurant. It was hard to imagine that anyone in San Francisco hated _Idol_! But she shook it off. "Alright then. Looks like you've got me as Paula Abdul again," she said as she elbowed Jason a little and gave him a wink. Then she put on her jacket and followed Jason outside. Once they got outside, Carly automatically asked, "Mind telling me which one of you boys is playing Simon today?"

"David," he told her. "I already called Randy Jackson, so he took to being the part of Simon today."

Carly smiled. She liked it when David got to play the part of Simon because she knew that she'd get to be close to David. Real close. And who knows? Maybe he'd even kiss her this time. So far they haven't gotten to kiss each other yet because Jason kept forgetting his lines and they had to keep reminding him so it took three times as long as it usually would. One time they were close to it, but for some reason David stopped and started making excuses like he had to go home and rest up so he could work tomorrow, he had to feed Archy, it was getting dark, he had to study for his chemistry, etc. Carly's mind went back to that day. She couldn't help but to wonder why he was making all those excuses, but she didn't wonder for long for they were already in April Border, a field with nothing but nature. And before they knew it, they found David with Archy and... Danny?!

"Now remember," David explained to him, "You have to aim your..."

"Aim my pistol at Jason, then shoot, then realize that I have wet gunpowder because me and the other Idols were under water because we had been dared to by the viewers to jump in the pool right before the results show and we had no time to change," Danny said flatly as if he'd heard it a dozen times before. (Which he actually did in order to know what he was doing seeing how he had only seen season one of _American Idol_.) _If only this water gun was a real pistol and had real bullets, then I'd really shoot him and David too__._

"Right." Then David looked to his right and found Jason and Carly. "Jason! Carly!" he shouted joyfully! He immediately ran up to the two with Danny and Archy following him. He came up to Jason and gave him a hi-five. "I see you've brought Miss Abdul with you, Mr. Jackson."

"Yeah I did. It wasn't easy, but I did it."

"Good! It just wouldn't feel right without the sweet Paula here." Then he turned to Carly. She smiled sweetly and he smiled back with his usual adorable grin. He secretly wanted to do more than just look at her and smile. He had certain feelings for Carly that he desperately wanted to tell her, but he always had this hidden doubt that she wouldn't return his feelings for her. Then Danny finally came and joined the other three in their greetings.

Carly's smile faded and she changed her attention from David to Danny. What in the world was Danny doing there? Wasn't he the one who openly claimed that he hated _American Idol_? Jason's expression was the same. Then he frowned. "Hey! What's he doing here? Trying to ruin our fun?" he asked grumpily and crossed his arms.

David could see that Jason wasn't happy. "It's okay Jason. He's going to play with us today. He's gonna be some contestants and come with us on our journey to bringing average people to stardom!"

Jason just stared at David blankly. For ten seconds he was completely still. He didn't even breathe until he finally said, "So he's playing with us?"

"Yeah, pretty much. So, let's go to our first audition stop in Pitts..."

"Wait!" somebody shouted! The four of them turned around to see that Mr. Cook was walking up to the five of them.

"Mr. Cook? What are you doing here?" David asked.

"Well seeing how you four are playing _Idol_ and the Idols get money, and I love money, I'm in!"

David didn't exactly understand Mr. Cook's logic seeing how money wasn't one of the things he had in mind, but he completely understood that Mr. Cook said that he wanted to come and play with them, and that meant more people to play with, and that they'd have even more fun! "Alright then! Hm... well, I don't think you'd make a good Ryan Seacrest, and you'd make an even worse mentor, so... I think I'll make you some contestants as well! What do you say, Mister C?"

"Do these contestants make it to the top 12 and get money?"

"Uh... yeah. I guess."

"Then I'm alright!"

"Alrighty then! Now let's head to Pitts..."

"Hold on there, David!" a deep, Australian accent shouted. Then the six of them turned around again and found Michael Johns with little Ramiele Malubay. "Come on!" he shouted at Ramiele, and she ran towards him. They walked up to the other six.

"What do you want Michael? Aren't you gonna try to steal my secret formula for my meals today and fail as you always do?" Cook asked.

"Very funny David, but not today. For you see, I've got nothing better to do and heard that your young lackey and the dimwitted dread locks are playing _American Idol_. And seeing how I love _Idol_, I decided that I want to join too. Ramiele here was bored and decided to come with me."

"What?! Surely you can't be serious!"

"I'm afraid I am. So, do I make your team?"

"This isn't possible!" Cook shouted. Then he turned to Archuleta. "David! Don't tell me you're actually buying this bogus suck-up story, boy!"

"But Mr. Cook, if he was lying to us, then wouldn't that mean that he'd be trying to steal your formulas right now?"

Then Cook thought about what David said. Then he scratched the back of his head in thought. _And if he's here, then that also means that I can keep an eye on him and make sure he doesn't leave to steal my formulas,_ he thought. Cook smiled at the thought of this and said, "I guess he can be here."

"Good! Then he'll get to be Ryan!"

"Ryan?" Michael asked not really wanting to be him.

"Yeah. You know, Ryan Seacrest. He's the short guy that's the host for _Idol_. Is that okay?"

"Sure, I guess."

"Um... can I play as someone too?" Ramiele asked shyly.

"Sure Ramiele. You can be a back-up singer."

"You mean I get to have my own microphone?!" she asked excitedly.

"Sure. You can borrow Jason's." Then David reached into one of Jason's pockets. "I think I got it! No wait, that's a tennis shoe. Let's see... Here it... No, that's a baseball. Let's see, a golf ball, a tree, a pinball machine... Oh, hi Elvis. Um... Aha! Here it is!" Then he finally pulled out a microphone and a stand and gave it to Ramiele. "Perfect! Now, it's time to go to Pitts..."

"Hold on there, people!" a southern twang shouted. Everyone turned yet again, to see that Mr. Cook's cousin Kristy Lee Cook was coming towards them.

"Kristy?! What are you doing here?!" Mr. Cook asked?

"What? You didn't think I wanted to come with you too? I've never played American Idol before. And since everyone else is playing _Idol_, I want to give it a try and play too!"

David smiled. He didn't expect so many people to come here to play _Idol_. This was a pleasant change in events. "Well then you can be... uh..." It took a while for David to think of someone that Kristy Lee could play seeing how there weren't that many southern accented people on _American Idol_. He couldn't think of anyone other than a contestant she could play. So he gave up. "Well, I guess Kristy Lee can be contestants too!"

"More contestants?" Danny asked.

"Well sure! There were quite a lot of people to try out after season one."

"Contestants, you say? Well if I get to sing, this may turn out better than I expected. I'm definitely in now!"

"Great! Now, let's go to our first audition stop in Pittsburgh!"


	3. Simon Says

**Chapter 3: Simon Says**

David and the others were having a blast playing _American Idol_! Even Danny was starting to like it, although he didn't show it to the others. They wandered around April Border for hours and had a good time. Then they finally came to one of the parts where Simon and Paula kiss. Carly had secretly been waiting for this moment. She'd been waiting for a chance like this for years. David had also waited for a moment like this. However, was nervous. He had never kissed a girl before, excluding his mother and his grandmas from both sides of the family. He never thought he'd get a chance to actually kiss someone like Carly in his lifetime. _Come on, Archuleta. Pull yourself together. It's only a girl,_ he told himself. _A girl with beautiful eyes that loves singing, softball and art work that you've secretly had a crush on for almost eight years. That's all._ He gulped down his fear and held her in his arms.

The rest of the gang watched and had smiles on all their faces. They secretly knew that there was something between these two and had hoped that a chance like this would come for them. David froze for a few seconds then looked at the others. "Go on kid," Mr. Cook said softly.

"You can do it buddy," Jason encouraged, giving him two thumbs-up.

David and Carly's faces were inches away from each other, and then David noticed something. He noticed Michael. At a first glance, he thought that Michael was smiling because he was happy to see the two of them together, but then he noticed that Michael's brown eyes weren't focused on him at all. They were fixated on Carly. He was looking her right in the eyes. He had some sort of a suave smile on his face as he raised his eyebrows a few times. At that moment, Carly noticed his look too, and raised one of her own eyebrows. Why was he looking at her like that? Wasn't he already married? She opened her mouth to ask him what he was doing looking at her like that, but then something else caught her eye. Something big and it was coming towards them fast. "Look out!" she shouted. Then everyone looked up and saw the enormous object coming down and ran away from their current spots to somewhere they thought they'd be safe. The giant object had touched down with a loud thud. During impact, the object had stirred up a massive cloud of dirt and dust that got into every ones' faces and caused them all to start coughing. After the dirt had cleared, Carly rubbed her eyes and focused her sight on what almost killed all of them. The rest of the gang came out and went to their previous spots to find a helicopter.

"Awesome! The sky had a baby again! And it's bigger than the last one it had!" Jason cried out.

Danny rolled his eyes the same way he shook his hips. He'd heard that one before. And like before, he had to tell him that he was wrong. "The sky didn't have a baby, you dumbbell! It's a helicopter! And the person who crashed it obviously doesn't know that this is not the right place to be landing helicopters!" Then he walked which looked more like a strut, up to the helicopter and got inside to see that nobody was there.

"What do you think you're doing there, Danny?" Mr. Cook asked.

"FYI Mr. Cook, I'm going to check out this helicopter and find out who was flying it. Then I'm gonna hunt them down and tell them that they shouldn't crash their helicopter here! It almost killed me!"

"But Danny, didn't you say the same thing about Piers Morgan when he drove his truck called "The Morgan Mobile" into your house and then you ended up in the Chamber of Losers, falling down into the infinite abyss for what seemed like an eternity until I got you back here?" David asked.

Danny paused for a moment. He had almost forgotten his incident with Piers Morgan, and it brought back memories of falling forever and getting third degree burns from Piers' flaming baseballs that he continually used to barbecue Danny with almost a dozen times. But then he quickly shook it off. _That was only one time,_ he thought. _It's not like it's going to happen again. Besides, what are the odds of that happening twice?_ And with that, Danny had started to climb into the helicopter.

David saw that his words only stopped Danny temporarily. "Danny! Wait!" he called after him. Then climbed into the helicopter as Danny began to fly the autopilot, which lead to the helicopter's owner.

"David! Get back here and give me my kiss!" Carly shouted. Then she saw the sly looks she got from the others, cleared her throat and quickly added, "So that we can get on with playing _Idol_ some more! Do you hear me, Archuleta?! Do you hear me?!" But David didn't hear her. He was too determined to get Danny to come back and was too far up in the sky to hear any of them now.

"Well, I guess we'll just have to wait for them to get back," said Ramiele

But Jason wasn't about to continue playing without his best friend. It just wouldn't feel right. "Well, if David is going, then I say we all have to go!"

Michael was about to protest. "But Jason..."

"Hey! I'm the best judge of all, and I say that we go up there and convince Blake Lewis to come back!" And with that, Jason grabbed onto the long rope ladder that hung from the helicopter and hung from it. "Hold on Cowell and Lewis! Randy Jackson's coming for you!" Then he started the climb. The others watched him until they couldn't see him anymore. Then they all looked at each other, shrugged casually and followed Jason up the rope ladder with Ramiele's tiny body struggling behind them.

Later on, they had all finally reached the top of the long ladder and came up into the helicopter. It was on auto-pilot and none of them knew how to stop it, so they waited for the helicopter to come to a stop on its own. The helicopter landed in the parking lot of a large building. Everyone went inside to find out where they were. Inside was a large stage with thousands of empty seats in front of it. The stage was huge and looked quite professional. David knew it wasn't the _America's Got Talent_ stage that he had been to before, but he couldn't help but think that the stage that he was staring at was familiar in some odd way. Danny and the others had finally gotten into the building too, which strangely enough was unlocked and anyone could enter. Danny looked at the place and snorted. "Just as I expected. This place is in terrible shape." Then he walked up to a table in front of the stage with three chairs next to it and laid his hand on one of the chairs, then immediately took it off. "Yuck!" he cried. "These chairs are covered with some sort of a slimy substance. That's unsanitary _and_ a safety hazard!" Then he turned his attention to the table and looked at the cobwebs that were on the sides of it. "Cobwebs on the table? This crap is disgusting!" Then he looked above his head and found that on the ceiling there were tiny creatures growing. "I don't even want to know." Then he was about to check out the stage, when he suddenly found himself slipping on a small puddle of water and slide all the way to the other side of the large room and crashed into some speakers covered in dust.

Worried that Danny could've hurt himself, David and Jason ran over to where Danny crashed and helped him get back up onto his feet. "Are you okay, Blake?" Jason asked.

"Okay?!" Danny boomed. "I just slipped and fell on my ass and slid across the floor and collided into a bunch of speakers and I now covered my favorite outfit in shit, that's all!"

"Oh. Thank God!"

_**"In other words I'm not okay, you asshole!"**_

"Sorry."

Then Danny stood up and brushed the dust off. "This place is a disaster waiting to happen! A death trap! The owner should be ashamed of this dump that he calls his...stage room or whatever! I wouldn't be surprised if he was in his room right now hiding his head in shame that he owns this piece of junk! I'm going to have to file a complaint with this guy!" Danny swung his hips as he paced angrily across the room.

"I don't think that's a good idea Danny," David told him. "This place gives me some sort of an eerie feeling deep down in my gut. I think we should leave."

"Not until I have a word with the owner! Now where is anybody?"

"Wear? I don't think this stage was meant for a catwalk, Danny." Jason said.

Danny just ignored him. He didn't have time to answer Jason's stupid questions. He went into a nearby hallway and found a closed door. He assumed it was occupied by the place's owner and immediately started banging on the door. "Open up! I'd wanna file a complaint!" he shouted with massive anger as well as attitude.

"I really don't think you should be doing this," said Carly, for she too felt a certain familiarity and creepy feeling about the place that they were presently in.

Ramiele was starting to get that feeling too. "M-Maybe we s-s-should c-come back later," she stammered. But Danny just ignored them all.

"Danny, I _really_ think we should go back to playing _Idol_. I have a weird feeling that I've seen this stage before and at the same time I feel like we should get out of here in fear of something creepy that's...also here," David stated.

Carly nodded her head in agreement. "I feel like that too."

"Me too," said Jason. But Danny continued to ignore them.

Meanwhile, Simon Cowell and some _American Idol_ employees were busy searching a nearby bus wreck for survivors that would be given a chance to join Cowell's team of employees that he pretty much took control of during the off season of _Idol_ since Simon was forced to stay at the studio and work. Unfortunately, they didn't find anyone on the bus that wasn't killed by the tree that fell over top of it. Simon Cowell stared at the wreckage that the tree had caused. He stared at the dead men that laid face down on the ground. Then one of his workers, a clever man named Ricky, came up to him. "There's no one here, sir. They're all dead." Just then, they heard a banging noise coming from inside their studio. The people looked over to the large building and saw that there were people inside, and none of their own fellow workers were inside. That only meant one thing: that they had intruders inside the _American Idol_ studio. The employees immediately headed back to the studio and decided to deal with these intruders and caught David and the gang by surprise.

"Oh my God!" David screamed. He was so scared that his pink, rosy completion turned to a ghostly white and he passed out right there in front of the stage. Not long after, the others did the same and they all passed out. When they woke up, they found Simon's fellow employees staring at them, and soon enough they were staring back at them with the same bizarre looks.

"David, who are they?" Jason asked in a whisper.

David was asking himself the same question. He knew that he'd seen these people or at least people a lot like them somewhere before, but he just couldn't figure out where he had seen them before. Then it hit him the moment he heard the noise that struck fear into his heart: the dreaded sound of a chubby, angry man with the sound of pie rumbling in his stomach! He recognized that noise right away. "Jason?"

"Yeah David?"

"I just figured out where I've seen these guys before."

"Where?"

"These are the people who during the _American Idol_ off-season have to work for..." He didn't get to finish, but they soon found out what he was going to say, for the rest of the people moved aside to let their 'boss' through to see the intruders of his studio. David's eyes got so big that it seemed like they were almost ready to pop out of their sockets and fall to the carpeted floor. "Simon Cowell," he whispered shakily. The gang all set their eyes upon Simon Cowell. They had never seen a man even remotely like him and they doubted they ever would again. Just the sight of him with his box cut hair do, boring gray shirt, and evil scowl made them cringe in fear. Simon stepped forward to get a better look at them. His movement made them lean back and caused Archy to cover his frightened face with his tiny paws.

Simon gave them all a strange look. He had his share of seeing unnatural things in the past, but this was completely different. He'd never seen people so unbelievably frightened in all of his life. He never would've believed it until now. Then he came so close to David where David's eyes ducked all the way back into his head for a moment, and then they came back out. "So, you're the ones that have trespassed into my studio?" he asked in his dreaded British accent.

Jason, obviously not knowing that they were all in the worst danger they could possibly be in as far as an _Idol_'s life goes, decided to speak up. "Yeah. Danny wanted to complain to you about how bad your place is."

Danny obviously didn't know that he'd be in such a bad situation like this again. It was like the Piers Morgan thing all over again, but at least he wouldn't get burnt to a crisp by flaming baseballs again. (After all, Simon Cowell didn't even like baseball.) However, he was afraid that Simon would do something even worse to him, like cutting off his legs with his finger nails or something. So to save himself from a possibly terrible fate, he tried to get Jason to stop telling him that they were there because of him. So he quickly covered Jason's mouth and said, "Uh, no. No I didn't. We, uh, ended up here by mistake and I, I uh..."

"But Danny, Jason's right. It is your fault that we're here in the first place. Let him talk!" said David. Then he remembered what danger they were in at the moment and sucked his lips into his mouth to prevent himself from saying anything else that would get them in even more trouble.

"You suck," Danny hissed at David softly. Then he looked back at Simon. The look on Simon's face made Danny gulp nervously and caused him to break out into a cold sweat. Then he gave a nervous chuckle and said, "He's joking. I, I never did that."

Obviously knowing that Danny was lying, Simon placed his large hand around Danny's throat in such a way that even the slightest movement could've ended his life at anytime. "Let the one with the dread-locks speak."

Afraid of ending his life too early, Danny nervously nodded and let go of Jason. As soon as he did, Simon let go of his throat, much to Danny's relief. Then he looked coldly at Jason as if to say "You've doomed us all for sure now, you bitch." Ignoring Danny's stare at him, Jason continued where he left off. "He said that your studio is in terrible shape. He said that your chairs were slimy, your tables are covered in cobwebs, and that you should be in your room hiding and hanging your head in shame that you own this place."

For each insult that Jason pointed out, Simon's stare at Danny became meaner and meaner. Then Simon looked back at Jason. "Is there anything else you'd like to add to that, Mister...?"

"Castro. Jason Castro. And yeah. He said something about a fashion show in here."

Simon's now ice cold stare at Danny made him extremely nervous now. It caused Danny to start sweating through the long striped scarf around his neck. "Uh, I can explain..."

"Oh don't worry. I'll listen. I'll have plenty of time to." Then he walked away. Thinking that Simon was going to let them off scot free gave them all a false sense of security and hope. Then he turned around and added, "After all, Mr. Danny, you'll have all of an eternity to tell me as you all serve me in this studio."

This last cruel comment to them made Cowell's fellow workers laugh. Even Jason laughed. Then after doing so, he stopped, turned to David and asked, "What was the joke Danny's mom made again?"

"Jason! Did you just blank out about what happened for the last five minutes and..." David looked at his watch, "thirty five seconds?!"

It took Jason a while until he finally said, "Yep."

David sighed and said, "Let me give you a recap. Simon Cowell and his workers found us in their _American Idol_ studio, you told them that Danny was insulting the place which made Simon really mad, and he apparently made us all a part of his team for the rest of eternity!"

"Wow! That's what happened? I thought I was missing a football game. Yeah, go Red Sox!"

Then David slapped his hand against his forehead. But only one of the San Frans was not worried throughout the whole thing: Kristy Lee Cook. For some reason, she was smiling. It wasn't until now that Mr. Cook noticed the look on his cousin's face. "Kristy? Are you okay?" he asked.

Kristy Lee didn't look at her older relative, but she sighed romantically and said, "I'm fine. Say, that Simon Cowell is quite the looker, don't you think?"

Mr. Cook's eyes popped! "Kristy! Do I have to remind you that that is the man who imprisoned us in this studio for the rest of eternity?!"

"And while doing so, he's won over my heart for eternity."

"Kristy, the dirty air's getting to your head. Now come along! We've got ALOT of work to do."


	4. Mr Cook Saves the Dayor Does He?

**Chapter 4: Mr. Cook Saves the Day...or Does He?**

David and the gang decided to get to work immediately. They didn't want to get caught slacking off, and they didn't want to find out what fate had in store for them if they did. Danny and Jason were stuck cleaning the stage floor, Michael and Ramiele were busy keeping a lookout for birds that could break one of the windows (which happened often), Mr. Cook and Kristy Lee were scraping gum off of audience seats, Archy was lord knows where, and David was with Carly straitening speakers and other equipment. Once they were through, they finally dropped down onto the stage and relaxed for a bit. That was when David noticed that Carly still had her jacket on, which seemed a bit useless since it was so warm in the studio and they had been in it for quite some time now. He tapped on Carly's shoulder. "Uh, Carly? I think you can take that off now." he said making pointing motions at his chest.

Carly turned her head to David. "I hope you mean just the jacket," she said slyly.

David didn't understand what she meant by that, then he figured out what she was really saying. "Oh no no no! Not like that! I mean... Yes, just the jacket."

Carly smiled. She knew he'd catch on, whether it was in a few seconds or a few hours. Then she took her jacket off. She was now revealing her spaghetti-strap purple top that she usually wore. David couldn't help himself staring at her. Something about her always made him feel wanted in the world. Then a thought came to him. _Now's your chance to be a man, Archuleta,_ he told himself. _Go ahead and tell her how you really feel about her. No one's watching. No one's even taking notice of you two. Do it!_ "Carly?"

"Yeah, David?"

"There's something I want to tell you."

"Yes? What is it?" she asked. Then she thought. _Could this be it? Could this be the moment I've been waiting almost eight years for?_

David struggled to get his words right. He didn't want to look dumb in front of Carly, especially not now when he was about to reveal his true feelings for her. "Well, I... I, um... well, you see, I... uh..."

"Yeah...?"

"Well, I, uh... that is... um..." He couldn't think of what to say. He was nervous. He never thought he'd ever have the chance to tell her these feelings. He also had that hint of doubt inside him that she wouldn't return his feelings. _Come on, David. She'll never know how you feel for her until you tell her. You can do this! Be a man!_ "Carly, I..."

Just as David was about to say what he wanted to say to Carly, Mr. Cook came over and interrupted them. "David? Mind coming over here for a few minutes? I need to talk to you about something."

"What?! Now?!" he asked with a bit of disappointment in his voice. He wasn't expecting Mr. Cook to come over and ruin what might be the only chance he had to tell Carly how he truly feels for her.

"Yes, now!"

"But Mr. Cook! I..."

"Dude! It's an important matter! And whether we're at the Cooks in the Kitchen or not, I'm still your boss and I could still fire you!"

"But Mr. Cook, if we're working here for an eternity, than wouldn't that mean..."

"David!"

"Yes Mr. Cook, I'm coming." Then he got up and walked away with Mr. Cook. Carly watched him until he was out of her sight. She was disappointed that David didn't say what he wanted to say to her. David was sulking. He had waited years for a moment like that with Carly and he didn't say a word about his feelings towards her. "I blew it. I really blew it," he said under his breath. "I was given the one chance to prove to Carly that I really cared for her and I ruined it."

But Mr. Cook was too distracted to hear David complaining. Then he and David had finally reached a place where no one was there to listen in on their conversation. Then he put a hand on David's shoulder and said, "Listen David, I need you to pay close attention to this. Not that I don't think the whole living on a creepy and nasty _American Idol_ studio for the rest of eternity and living under the rules of a truly evil man with a box-cut is a bad thing, but the thing is: I don't expect that to be the way I spend the rest of me life. You get what I'm saying'?"

"Oh I get you Mr. Cook. You mean you don't want to spend the rest of your life working in a studio with Simon Cowell."

"Exactly. So, you know a lot about this Simon guy, right?"

"Pretty much. I know him right down to his... Well I would say DNA, but unfortunately I can't seem to find any DNA samples of him. Why?"

Mr. Cook didn't expect him to say that, but he carried on. "I was kind of hoping that you'd know some sort of way that we could get out of our punishment and head back to San Francisco and go back to the way things were. So, is there anyway we could do that?"

"Well of course there is! You see, there's this game that you play where you bet however many years of service you have against another worker and if you win, you have that many less years to serve under Cowell's rule. I learned that from _Pirates of the Caribbean_."

"A game? Exactly what game is that?"

"Uh, I think it's something called Peruno."

"Peruno?" Cook asked? "As in, Liar's Dice?"

"Yeah. Have you heard of it?"

"Heard of it?!" Cook laughed. "I used to play it with my friends in elementary school!"

"Really? Were you good at it?"

"Good at it?! Archuleta, I am the best man in the whole dang universe at Peruno!" Cook bragged. "Why with my kind of luck at a game like that, we're sure to be set free in no time!"

David liked the idea of going back to San Francisco. He loved frolicking throughout April Border like a little girl, surfing at the beach, serving up delicious meals at the Cooks in the Kitchen and going to school and being with his favorite teacher Mr. Howard, who some say eats pants. Then a certain thought came to him. "But Mr. Cook, no one will want to risk their present years of service to be here for an eternity. That's just plain silly!"

"I've already thought of that. So here's what I'll bet against them: if I win, I get our freedom back, and if I lose, I send them on a one month's vacation trip to Hawaii that will be entirely paid by me."

"But Mr. Cook, what if you lose?!"

"Kid, I already told you: I'm the best man in the whole dang universe at Peruno! There ain't no way I can lose! So get ready to kiss the place goodbye David, 'cause by tomorrow morning we'll be headed back to San Francisco!" And with that, he headed over to where the rest of the workers were playing.

Meanwhile, Carly's mind went back to the day where David almost kissed her. She was still trying to figure out why he was acting so strange that day. Why was he was making all those excuses? Why was he trying to go home so badly? And why was he acting so nervous? Carly couldn't think of a reason for his actions. Then she thought about what he was about to say a few minutes ago until Mr. Cook interrupted them. He was acting nervous there too. He was acting a lot like he did when he almost kissed her. And he acted almost exactly the same when he almost kissed her before she noticed Michael looking at her. Then it came to her. Could it be that David... was in love with her? As she was thinking, Michael came up to her and tugged on her shirt a bit. "Pardon me, Miss Smithson?"

This made Carly snap back to reality. Then she noticed that Michael was sitting next to her. "Oh, it's you," she said flatly. She moved herself so that she could see Michael face to face. "What do you want?"

"I, uh, wanted to know if you were doing anything tonight. And I thought if you weren't, then maybe I could, oh I don't know, have dinner with you maybe?"

Carly saw where this was going and she didn't like it. "Last time I checked, you were married."

"I wouldn't consider a marriage to someone who's always living across the world a real marriage." Then he started to look at her with a certain lust in his eye. "Especially if it's not to someone who's actually here, and even prettier such as yourself."

"Michael. Of all the downright sneaky things you've done in your lifetime, this has got to be one of your sneakiest yet."

Then Michael pretended to be in pain. He grabbed his chest and breathed deeply. "That kind of talk hurts, sweetheart."

"And this is gonna hurt even more." Then she pounded him all the way across the stage and he collided with the wall on the opposite side.

Then Ramiele walked by and noticed that Michael was painfully sitting against the wall. "I told you it wouldn't work," she said as she walked by.

"Whatever!"

The next day, David was up and he was ready to go back to San Francisco. Then he saw that Mr. Cook had his head down on one of the tables backstage and he was crying. David didn't really notice because he was too excited about going home to see how upset he was. "All ready to head for San Francisco, Mr. Cook!" he said cheerfully as he began dancing around the table. But Mr. Cook didn't listen. He was too busy crying. Then David looked around. He noticed that the rest of Simon Cowell's workers were missing. "Uh, Mr. Cook? Where are the rest of Simon's employees? Are they having breakfast in the lounge?"

Mr. Cook finally stopped crying and lifted his head from the table. "No," he sniffed. "They're not in the lounge. By now they're probably somewhere of the coast of Kauai."

David gasped! "Kauai?! You mean you lost?!"

Cook sadly nodded. "And by the time they get there, they'll be spending all of my hard-earned cash!"

"But Mr. Cook! I thought you said that you were, and I quote...," then he took a moment to fix his hair and draw some facial hair on his chin with a pen and do his imitation of Mr. Cook, "'The best man in the whole dang universe at Peruno!'"

"I was. I guess I ain't no more."

"But then that means that we'll never go back to San Francisco. We'll never see our homes again. We'll never watch _SpongeBob SquarePants_ ever again. No more skateboarding, no more working at the Cooks in the Kitchen, no more going to Chuck E. Cheese, no more going to Disney Land, no more surfing at the beach, no more going to the Camp Rock fan club, and no more going to school!" Then he started to cry.

"And no way to earn money!" Cook sadly added and he started crying again too.

"And no peace from you idiots!" Danny also added, and then he joined in.

Then Carly joined in as well. "No more painting stuff!"

Michael too. "No more attempts to steal Cook's formulas!"

Ramiele started crying too. "No more attempts to bring world peace and help end world hunger!" Soon enough, almost everyone was crying except for Kristy Lee, who thought that spending the rest of her life with a man like Simon Cowell was like heaven on earth.

Then David stopped crying. "Well, I guess we'd better tell Simon that his regular team and his employees are gone for a month." He wiped away the remaining tears from his eyes then looked at Jason. "Say Jason? What day is today? I was so busy crying that I forgot."

"Hmm, let me check my calendar." Then he reached into his pocket and pulled out a calendar about half his height and looked at it. "It says that today is May 23rd."

"May 23rd, huh?" Then David got an idea. Meanwhile, Simon was in his room sleeping in the chair by his organ. David quietly opened the door to his room and he signaled for the rest of the gang to come in. Then they quietly sneaked into his room and walked up right behind their sleeping master. Then David whispered, "Alright gang. Let's do this just like we rehearsed."

"Are you sure he'll like this?" Ramiele asked.

"Are you kidding? He'll love this! A-one. A-two. A-one, two, three, go!" Then the whole gang started singing: "Good morning! Good morning! It's happy World Turtle Day! Just look it up and you'll see why we celebrate! Because we all love turtles and we hope you do too. Happy World Turtle Day to you!" This caused Simon to wake up from his peaceful slumber, which he never really enjoyed seeing how he wasn't exactly what people would call a morning person. Wondering what could have woken him up and why he was hearing a song about turtles, he turned around and looked grumpily at the people who had caused him to wake up. It was David and the gang singing. Noticing that the boss was up, David stopped clapping and smiled. "Happy World Turtle Day, Simon! We just came in here to greet you with a song me and my friends made about turtles. Did you like it?"

Simon stared coldly at him as if to say, _What do you think, you monkey-faced whore?_ Then he noticed that it was still fairly dark out and gradually started to grow a bit lighter. "What time is it?"

"Hold on a second sir. Let me check my watch." Then David pushed up his sleeve and read the time on his digital watch. "It says here that it's five o' three, Simon."

_**"Five o' three?!**__**You woke me up at five o' three in the morning?!"**_

"Yup. And we've got news for you, Simon. Because of a bet that Mr. Cook lost playing Peruno, your employees are now spending the rest of the month on a vacation trip to Hawaii."

"Hawaii?!" he boomed. As if being woken up rudely by them wasn't enough, now he had to spend a whole month with these imbeciles in his studio as his employees.

"And that means more time for us to get to know each other better," Kristy Lee added as she blinked her big eyes at him.

A bit creped out by Kristy Lee's actions, Simon took a few steps back and said, "Well if you're supposed to be part of my team, then I expect you to get to work! Off with you all!"

Then David threw out his chest and gave Simon a salute. "Aye aye, captain Cowell!" Then he and everyone else left. Then Simon went back to his room and sat in the chair by his organ. "Well, they can't be that bad, can they?" he asked himself. Little did he know that this was just the beginning of a very long and very annoying month for him...


	5. Avril Cowell and Simon Lavigne

**Chapter 5: Avril Cowell and Simon Lavigne**

As David and Jason walked out of Simon Cowell's room, Jason asked David, "Jeeze. Danny's mom sure isn't a morning person, is she David?" Then Jason looked at David and saw that he wasn't paying attention to him. "David?" Then he waved his hand in front of David's face. He didn't react. He didn't even blink. "David?" Then he got down close to his ear and said very slowly, "Dav-id? Are you lis-ten-ing tooo meee?"

But David wasn't listening to him. He was in his own little world as he stared at what he thought had to be the most beautiful thing he had ever laid eyes on: Carly Smithson. He watched her every move as she walked over to the table where the employees would usually play Peruno when they had spare time. _If only she knew how much I care for her,_ he thought. _Oh, what I would give to make her mine. What I would..._ Then he noticed that there was someone coming towards her sitting in the seat next to her. Someone with a very large head. Someone dressed in jeans and a gray t-shirt. Then he mentally gasped. He knew who it was. It was Michael. He frowned. The look he gave Carly when they were last in San Francisco was still fresh in his mind, and he still didn't like it. "What does he want with my Carly?!" he asked aloud, unaware that he did so and in front of Jason.

David's comment confused Jason. "_Your_ Carly?" he questioned with a hint of suspicion.

Then David quickly got out of his little dream world and focused his brain on reality and came to realize that he had asked this question aloud as well as in his mind. And what was worse was that he had said it in front of Jason, who was now questioning him about it's meaning. Then he quickly turned to Jason. "Uh, what I meant to say is, um, well... uh, w-what does he want with my Carly, uh, candy! Uh, yeah. That's it. Candy," he pathetically lied.

Fortunately for him, Jason was no Albert Einstein. "Oh. You said _candy_. Haha. For a minute there, I thought you said _Carly_. Boy, am I ever dumb today. Anyway, why don't you just go ask him?"

David gave a sigh of relief that Jason didn't suspect anything anymore and said, "You're right! I should ask him! And you know what? I think I will! Talk to you later Jas!" Then he ran off towards the table that Carly and Michael were talking at. During this, Michael was sweet talking to Carly. After he sat down next to her, he looked her in the eyes and said in his amazing accent, "Hey beautiful."

"Hey retard," she responded rudely. "Did you forget what I did to you yesterday for saying stuff like that?"

Michael felt like his smile just got slapped off his face. He indeed remembered that, and he didn't want it to happen again. He got enough of that back in San Francisco. Then he remembered a part of _Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest_ where Jack tried to convince Elizabeth that they were similar and tried to coax a kiss out of her. This caused a smile to break out onto his face again. Then he looked kindly at Carly and simply said, "I do remember, but I didn't finish telling you something."

"That this is some sort of sick joke you're trying to do to get Mr. Cook's formulas that my best friend David knows?" she asked in a way much like Danny's normal voice.

"No. I just didn't get to telling we're a lot alike, you and I. You and me. We two. Us."

Carly saw where this was going, so she decided to play along as the part of Elizabeth and get him to where he can't win. She grew a smile of her own, only this was a smile of deceit rather than pleasure. "Of course we're similar," she said with a slight touch of darkness in her Irish accent. "Except for our size, height, weight, age, moral values, political beliefs, birth places..."

"Trifles, my dear. Trifles," he said, brushing off her comments.

"And the fact that you're married and I'm not," Carly added.

"And as I've stated before; a marriage to someone across the globe doesn't really count as a real marriage."

"But it's a marriage nonetheless."

Just then, David got over to the two of them and they turned their attention to him. Carly looked at him and smiled. It was like her little knight in shining armor coming to save her from a cursed warlock of evil through her eyes. Through Michael's eyes, however, he saw him as a nuisance and a threat to his conversation with Carly and the good possibilities that would follow. He glared at him. "What do you want, stalker?" he asked rudely.

This comment not only hurt David on the inside, but Carly as well. How dare he talk to David like that, and he didn't even say a word to him yet! But David decided to go on anyway. "I just wanted to know what you two were talking about," he said.

Michael looked at the kid. For a moment, he thought he was looking at both him and Carly as he was talking. But when he looked a bit closer, he noticed that David wasn't even looking at him. Michael noticed that David's eyes were looking deeply into Carly's. Then he looked at Carly and noticed that her own beautiful icy blue eyes were returning that same starry-eyed look to his hazel ones. He thought for a moment as to why they might be looking at each other like that, and then it hit him: They loved each other. Then he thought back. He did recall seeing the two of them together a lot when he was spying on David back in San Francisco in hopes of discovering Cook's secret formulas. At the Cooks in the Kitchen, at the beach, and in her house too. Then Michael realized that he was in trouble. (After all, wouldn't you be in trouble too if you were flirting with the girl of someone else's dreams that she loved back?)

After a few minutes of silence between the three of them, Carly finally opened her mouth to say, "We were just talking about, uh... things! Right Michael?"

Michael didn't quite get what she meant. "Huh?" Then she nudged him hard with her elbow. "Ow!" he cried. _Now_ he got it. "Um, I mean, uh, yeah! Sure! We were talking about, er, things!"

David didn't exactly buy their story, but he didn't want them to let on that he had suspicions that they were up to something, so he pretended to go along with it. "Oh. Things, huh?"

"Uh, yeah. Sure." Michael answered.

"What kind of things?" David asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Well, uh..." But fortunately for Michael, Jason cut him off just before he could think of anything to say.

"Hey David!" Jason shouted.

"What is it Jason?"

"Danny said he has a job for us to do in the basement and he told me to get you to come down there right away. He said it was an important job that Simon told us to do."

As you can imagine, David didn't want to disobey Simon's orders, so he left right away with Jason. The two of them raced down to the bottom most part of the place where most of the supplies were kept. Then they saw Danny at the very end of the walkway. They came up to him, eager to figure out what important job Simon specifically gave them. "Alright Danny. We're both here and we're ready to do the labor that our boss Simon Cowell has put upon us," said David.

"Well don't excite yourselves too much, 'cause you might actually find this un-enjoyable." He said flatly. Then he put on a fake smile and said in an unusually happy tone, "Now, are you ready to find out what exciting job the boss has given you?"

"Oh yeah!" David and Jason yelled excitedly.

"Simon has given you two idiots... I mean, lucky men, the job to paint this entire room!"

Then David and Jason jumped up and shouted happily, "Hooray!"

"Well, you two enjoy yourselves. I've got to get back up and wipe off all the windows and screens and other crap." Then he started up the stairs laughing at his little scheme. "Those idiots will be down there all day painting that room and at last give me some peace. And when Simon finds out about what they did, he'll be so mad at them that he'll probably send them to jail for vandalism!" Then he started laughing again, but he was interrupted by David tapping on his shoulder. Then he stopped and turned around to see David and Jason standing behind him. "What the hell? What are you two still doing here? Didn't I tell you two to get to painting that room?"

"You did, but you didn't tell us which color Simon wanted the basement."

"What?! I don't know what color and I don't care!"

"But Simon cares. After all, it is his basement. So what color did he want it?"

"I don't know! Pink! Black! Pink _and_ black! Anything! Just paint it!"

"Oh, okay." Then Danny turned to go and was about to go up the other set of stairs that led to the main floor, and then David shouted after him again. "Danny?"

"What now?!"

"Does Simon want any sort of pattern for the walls? Like stripes, or swirls, or polka-dots?"

"Checkers!" he shouted. Then he stormed up the stairs and headed to the awaiting sponge and window cleaner and started cleaning the stage's background screen.

After Danny had left, the two friends looked at each other. "Checkers? Wow! That Simon Cowell's a genius!" Jason exclaimed. Then the two of them turned around and went down to the lower room that Danny told them to paint.

"Do you have any brushes with you Jason?"

"Hold on. Let me check." Then Jason reached deep into the right pocket of his blue jeans so that the pocket practically swallowed Jason's arm. He felt around a little until he finally said, "Aha!" Then he pulled out two decent sized paint brushes. David grabbed one of those brushes opened the black can of paint, gently dipped his brush into the can, turned around and started painting the wall with the black checkers.

Not long after, on the main floor, Simon came to see if his newest workers were doing their jobs correctly. He looked over at Mr. Cook, who was fixing a broken chair at the judge's table. He seemed to be doing fine. Next he checked up on Ramiele, who was keeping a look out the window with Archy in her arms. The two of them were vigilantly on the lookout for birds, so they were doing their jobs well. Then he checked on Kristy Lee, Carly and Michael who were checking to make sure that all the microphone stands were still well put together. Michael and Carly were doing a fine job with that, but Kristy Lee drew attention to herself by smiling at Simon and blowing a kiss at him. Creped out by her actions, he turned his attention away from her and checked to see if David, Jason and Danny were cleaning the glass objects. He saw Danny, but he didn't see the other two anywhere. Curious as to where they were, Cowell made his way down towards where Danny was working. "Mister Danny, where are the other two that are supposed to be working with you?" he asked.

Seeing his chance to see David and Jason get in trouble, he simply told him, "Oh. David and Jason are in the basement. They're doing something else that I think you'll find most shocking."

Simon frowned. He didn't like the sound of that, so he walked right down the stairs to figure out what they were doing exactly. As he did, David and Jason had figured out an easier way to paint checkers on the walls. David took his brush, dipped it in the black paint, then started drawing checkers with it in the pink paint. And just like in an old cartoon, the paint turned into black and pink checkers without having to do twice the work with painting the checkers. As soon as David and Jason finished hi-fiving each other for their brilliant discovery, they heard the dreaded sound of a chubby, angry man with the sound of pie rumbling in his stomach coming their way. "Oh crap!" David gasped. "It's Simon! He's coming down to see if we've finished painting yet, and we're not even halfway done yet! Hurry Jason! Grab your brush and start painting the walls!" Then they grabbed their brushes, dipped them into the newly-made black and pink checkered paint, and started sloppily painting the closest things to them. The sound was getting closer. "Hurry Jason! He's coming!" Then they sped up their work and got even sloppier. Then Simon got even closer and David and Jason were freaking out and sent paint flying everywhere onto everything in sight! "Hurry Jason! Hurry hurry hurry!" David shouted.

"I'm painting as fast as I can, David!" Jason shouted back. Then Jason got so freaked out that he shouted, "Doh! This is taking too long!" Then he grabbed the bucket of checkered paint and chucked it just as the unsuspecting Simon Cowell stepped into the room! Then before he knew it, Simon had black and pink checkered paint dripping all over him, from his box head, all the way down to his big feet! To put it simply; Simon Cowell was a black and pink checker painted Avril Lavigne wannabe mess!

Unaware that Jason was going to do that and throw the paint bucket at their boss, David went over to take the paint can off of Simon's head. When he did, he saw that Simon was staring at the both of them meanly. "Uh, sorry Simon," he said apologetically.

Simon didn't answer. He was too mad at the monkey boy and the dread-locks barer to say anything without it being to all nonsense words or without containing words that would turn this T rated fiction into an unrated one in a split second. "**What in the name of crumpets do you two infernal idiots think you're doing?!**" he boomed.

"We were just painting the basement like you told us to do, boss," David told him.

"Like _I_ _told_ you to do?!" he repeated angrily. "Like _I_ _told_ you to do?!"

"Yeah, with black and pink checkers just like you said, sir."

"Black and pink checkers?! I'd tell you idiots to lick the sides of the place clean and spit-polish the stage sooner than tell you two to paint the basement with black and pink checkers!"

"But Danny said that you said that you said to him that he said to us that you wanted us to paint this room with black and pink checkers," Jason explained.

Simon's facial features looked crueler and meaner, if that was even possible. "So mister Danny told you to do this, did he now?"

David nodded. "Mm-hmm. Those were his words exactly. Well, not exactly his words, seeing how he didn't say it like that and...come to think of it, those weren't his words at all because they were your orders, so they'd be your words exactly. Well, I wouldn't say that either because I wasn't there when you said that so..."

Ignoring David's nonsense talk, Simon immediately shouted at the top of his lungs, "_**Danny!!**_"

At the sound of Simon Cowell's voice, Danny cringed and said to himself, "Oh crap. This can't be good."


	6. Changes

**Chapter 6: Changes**

After Simon yelled at Danny and demanded that he help David and Jason clean up the black and pink checkered mess then get to doing his other job, Simon walked back up to the top deck, went into his room and slammed the door behind him. _Why me?_ he thought to himself. _As if Paula leaving me, becoming this hated man and being separated from the outside world but once every two years wasn't enough? Now I have a team of incompetent morons working for me. And what's worse, they're my employees for the entire month!_ Then he pulled out a wash cloth and started wiping off the paint that Jason had splattered all over him. He started with his face, and once he did that as best he could, he moved on to his box cut. He started cleaning himself up when he noticed that a hand was helping clean him up as well. But it wasn't his hand. This hand was smaller and cleaner and smoother than his own. His eyes followed the hand so he could figure out who was doing this and found that it was Kristy Lee Cook. He turned his head to her.

She smiled. "You looked like quite a mess when you came out, so I decided to help you out a bit," she said sweetly.

Simon glared at her and used his hand to take the washcloth out of her grasp. "Thank you very much, but I do not need your help," he said coldly. Then he turned his back to her and continued cleaning himself up. Then he looked at her from the corner of his eyes and noticed that she wasn't leaving. "Is there any other reason as to why you're in here?" he asked, pretending to be interested.

Kristy Lee smiled a little, then looked at the wall and nervously rubbed the back of her head a bit. As she looked at the wall, she said a bit shyly, "Well, I, um, was wondering if you were, uh, busy tonight." Then she looked at him. "Are you?"

He looked away and started cleaning up his hands. "I could be. Why?"

Kristy Lee's smile grew a little and continued. "Well, I was thinking that if you weren't that maybe you and I could do something together."

As she said this, he stopped. Was she... asking him out? On a date? Simon felt a bit more creped out by her than usual and simply said, "Yes. I am busy. Very busy."

Kristy Lee took her hand away from her neck and looked down. "Oh. Okay," she said with a bit of disappointment in her voice. Then she turned around and left. As she came out of his room, David, Danny and Jason came up from the basement and were talking about the other job that their master put on Danny.

"Gee Danny. I feel bad for you," said David.

"As if working for three hours with you dickheads cleaning up paint on the walls wasn't enough, now he's got me cleaning after his queer-ass pet too?!"

"Well it could be worse, Danny," David told him, trying to cheer him up a bit.

"Yeah. You could be not getting paid for heavy labor and be far away from home," Jason added, trying to help, but it obviously didn't because all that was true.

"Well, I better get over to his pet's room and start mopping up after the animal," Danny said monotony as he grabbed a bucket and a mop. "Don't come for me if I die, unless the gorilla eats me. _Then_ you can come after me." And with that, he left for the elevator that would take him and Mr. Cook to the upper floor where Simon's pet gorilla was. As he did, he looked back at the main floor and saw Jason stupidly waving goodbye to him. Danny snorted and chose to ignore him.

"There goes one brave guy," Jason said after the elevator doors closed. Then he turned around and saw that David was, once again, not listening to him. He was looking at Carly, who was playing solitaire with a deck of cards that he gave her for Christmas. At first, she didn't notice him, than she looked up for a second and noticed his cute, little, hazel eyes. She looked at those eyes and noticed their look. They were gently reflecting the sunlight from the windows and were staring at something with a certain passion in them. She wondered what they were looking at. They were looking in her direction; somewhere to where she was…something close beside her. He was staring at something, but she couldn't figure out what it was. Then it came to her: those gorgeous hazel eyes were staring at her!

When she finally noticed this, she saw that David was coming towards her. She panicked. Was he going to say what she wanted him to for eight years? What would she say when he did? What would happen after that? She freaked out! She didn't know what to do! She started nervously shuffling her cards, not noticing that half of them were face up and face down. Then she accidentally shuffled them so much that when David finally came over to her, she accidentally sent the cards flying everywhere! Then she finally came to her senses and realized what she did in her panic state, she quickly became sane again and said, "Oh shit! Sorry!" Then she knelt down and starting picking them up, one card at a time.

"No that's okay," said David gently. Then he got down on his knees and helped her. Then he looked at her. Now was his big chance to tell her his true feelings for her, and he was going to take it. "Carly?"

"Yeah David?"

"Um, there's this one thing I've been meaning to tell you for a while now..."

"Well, what is it?" she asked, secretly hoping that what he wanted to say were the three words that she dreamed about him saying for years.

"Carly, I... I..." He hesitated. That hint of doubt came back again, and now it was stronger than ever since he saw her talking to Michael. Then he started to cry a little. What if she didn't love him at all? What if she loved Michael instead? They did have quite a bit in common, seeing how they were both once college students that know about art and technology. He couldn't bare that kind of torture; seeing Carly with someone else. It was just too horrible to bear! Perhaps that was how Simon felt when he came back to the outside world and found his one love, Paula, gone? Perhaps. And David saw how broken-hearted he was. He neared suicide in an attempt to escape the pain he felt after that. Then he thought, _Could that happen to me if Carly doesn't return my feelings? Will I turn into a monster that sees life as nothing but cruelty?_ He didn't know. He held back the words he desperately wanted to say until he couldn't anymore until he finally burst into tears and cried, "_**I love you!**_" Then he covered his eyes with his hands and started covering the table with tears. "I love you, Carly! I love you! I love you so much and you can never make me think otherwise! Oh Carly, I've held those words inside of me for eight years, wishing they'd come out sometime and now they have! Oh ho ho ho!"

Carly was surprised. She'd wanted him to say those words for years, but she never thought she'd hear him cry them out. But she couldn't understand why he was crying. She gently wrapped her arm around him and sat by his side. "David? What are you crying for?"

"Because I saw you with Michael today," he sniffed. "I-I saw the way he looked at you back in San Francisco, a-and... and I..."

"What?! Michael?! David, is that what this is all about?"

David finally took his hands away from his face, wiped away a tear, looked at her and sniffed. "Uh huh."

"David, that's no reason to cry. He's just a huge pile of crap whose ego is bigger than Ireland. I don't love him and I never ever could." Then she wrapped her other arm around him and pulled him into a hug. "I love _you_." And with that, she leaned into him and gently pressed her lips against his. David was stunned. His first kiss and it was with the girl that he loved more than anything that loved him back just as much! He returned her kiss and his mind separated the two of them from the rest of the world. He didn't care that everyone was watching them. He didn't care that Mr. Cook gasped at the sight of the two of them together. He didn't care that Michael was frowning at the sight of them. He didn't care that Jason was completely shocked beyond words about his best friend kissing someone who thought he was dumb. He didn't care! He only cared about this one moment with Carly. David wanted it to never end, but he and Carly both knew that all good things have to come to an end. When they stopped, they sat there looking at each other as they held each other in their arms. They felt like they could've stayed like that forever... until they heard Simon playing his organ. It was loud and a bit sinister sounding; the perfect music to take them out of their loving state. Everyone turned to Simon's room as they heard the organ's music. "What a way to bring us out of our moment," Carly said sarcastically.

"Oh come now. It's not so bad," Kristy Lee protested.

"But it's boring. Like Danny," Jason stated. "Besides, would it kill him to play a little rock 'n' roll or pop or hip-hop on that thing?!"

"I don't know and I don't want to find out. Let's just get to work," David told them. He didn't want to upset Simon even more than when Jason splattered paint all over him.

"I hate to say this, but the hippie one's right! This music is boring!" Michael protested.

Ramiele nodded. "I agree. It's not upbeat or cheerful. It's like music you listen to at a funeral!"

"Woof woof!" Archy added.

Then David gasped. "Archy! How dare you say that about Simon! Either way we should be doing our jobs and leave him alone!" But when he said this, he noticed that Jason, Michael and Ramiele were already headed towards Simon's room and had already gone inside. Nervous that they'd do something terrible to get them in even more trouble, David and Carly chased after them. Then they finally got into Simon's room and watched what they were about to do.

At the moment, they were arguing over which one of them would actually tell Simon that they weren't satisfied with the music he was playing. None of them wanted to be fall victim to his wrath, but they didn't want to hear the deep depressing music that he was currently playing either. "So...which one of us is going to tell him to face the music, no pun intended?" Ramiele asked in the form of a whisper.

"Well, I think it should be you. You're the cutest one here," said Michael.

"Oh, thank you...wait! What?! No way! I say Jason should do it! He's the dumbest!" Ramiele protested with Danny's style of attitude.

Just then, Jason got an idea. (I know. Shocking, right?) "How about we play 'Rock, Paper, Scissors' to decide who tells him?"

Surprised that Jason actually came up with something, Michael and Ramiele looked bug-eyed at him in amazement with their mouths wide open. That actually sounded like a _good_ idea, for once. Then they shook it off and nodded in agreement. "The winner gets to tell him to change his tune, also no pun intended. Okay?" Ramiele asked. Michael and Jason gulped and nodded in agreement, and then they started. Jason chose paper, Ramiele chose rock, and Michael chose scissors. After realizing that none of them were the winners or the losers, they tried again. Jason still chose paper, Ramiele chose scissors (ironic seeing how she fears sharp objects), and Michael chose rock. Still seeing that there was no winner or a loser, Ramiele got an idea; "Tell ya what; why don't we split the duty of telling him? Michael can get his attention, and then Jason can tell him off."

"Then what do you do, Ramiele?" Jason asked.

"I'll stay behind you and give you the moral support."

"Oh, okay." Obviously Jason didn't know that what she meant was that she pretty much doesn't do anything, but Jason was just okay that he had an answer that wasn't "nothing".

But Michael, being a college student and not as gullible as Jason, didn't fall for it. "How about I get his attention, then _both_ of you tell him off?"

Knowing that somehow Michael would protest about his job, Ramiele sighed and said, "Alright. Deal. But you have to get his attention first!" Then she made a quick jerking motion and accidentally pushed Michael right onto the floor right next to the chair that Simon was sitting in.

Michael gulped and stood up. In his frightened mine, Simon looked a lot taller even though he was sitting down. Michael shuddered to think of how tall Simon would look when he was standing up, but he put that away from his thoughts, took a deep breath, and leaned against Simon's chair. Then he took a few deep breaths before getting his attention. After relaxing himself, he cleared his throat and said, "Excuse me, Mr. Simon Cowell, sir?" But he couldn't hear Michael over his organ music. He didn't even notice him. "Excuse me?" Michael called again, a little bit louder. No answer."_**Excuse me?!**_" he shouted at the top of his lungs. Not even a glance. Then Michael collapsed down onto his butt and sighed. "Oh, I give up!" he cried. Then he noticed that not to far away from him, there was a locket. The same locket that Michael had seen pictures of that was the only matching pair to Paula's! Michael saw his chance to get Simon's attention and grabbed the locket's chain and called out as loud as he could, "Yo box head! Is this thing yours?!" Then he opened it up and the locket's sad song began to play.

When the music started playing, Simon immediately stopped and looked at Michael. Then, before anyone knew it, Michael was being grabbed at by his arm from Simon's hand and was face to face with the devil himself. Michael was still holding the chain that was attached to the locket and the music was now echoing throughout the now silent room. Michael looked at Simon in fear of what he'd do to him next. As Simon stared coldly at the Australian man that was in his fist's hold, he used his other hand to snatch the locket from Michael and gently, but firmly, closed it. "**Do not**** under any circumstances**_**,**__** touch that locket!**_** And unless you have a death wish with me, I suggest you seriously consider the consequences that would face you if you ever do it again! **_**Do you understand, Michael?!**_"

Michael was in so much shock that he was at a loss for words. All he could do was stare at him with his eyes in fear and hold his mouth as open as it could go. But despite this, Michael managed to grimly nod without changing his expression. But despite what just happened to her ex-boyfriend, Kristy Lee looked at Simon with a smile on her face. _He's even more attractive when he's mad_, she thought to herself.

Jason, oblivious to how much trouble he could get them in, decided to carry out their plan. "Uh, Cowell?"

Simon turned to Jason and let go of Michael's arm. He now directed his anger at Jason. "_**What do **__**you**__** want?!**_"

"Well, we have a complaint about your choice of music to play as we're working."

"_We?_"

"Yeah. Me and..." but as Jason turned around to point out Ramiele, he found that nobody was standing behind him. They had all left in fear of getting in trouble with the already angry British horror. Despite this, Jason went on. "Well, uh, _I_ would like to complain about your choice of music, then."

"And what complaint would that be, Mister Jason?"

When he asked this, Jason walked past him and looked at his organ. "Can't you play any rock-pop songs on this thing? Like _Changes_?"

Simon looked a bit puzzled. He had never heard of that song. (This was surprising seeing how he knows a lot of songs since he's an American Idol judge.) "_Changes_?"

"Yep. _Changes_," Jason explained. "It's this great song performed by Butterfly Boucher that also features the great David Bowie. This song was used in the hit movie _Shrek 2_ and is also in the movie's soundtrack. Let me show you how the piano part in the first verse sounded." Then Jason sat down in Simon's chair and started pounding his hands away at the keys.

When he did this, Simon and the rest of the team all covered their ears in an attempt to block out the terrible sound. (Except for Archy. He tucked into a cardboard box hidden on the stage.) Then David and Carly came in to Simon's room to find Jason practically breaking the precious organ's keys. "Jason?! What in the name of leprechauns do you think your doing?!" Carly shouted.

At the sound of Carly's voice, Jason stopped and turned toward the Irish girl and the short boy. "I was just showing Simon here how to play _Changes_ by Butterfly Boucher featuring David Bowie."

Simon snorted. "If that's how the song really goes, then I don't want to hear it."

David shook his head. "Oh no, Simon, sir. That isn't how it goes at all. That's more like country or rap. Pop-rock is completely different. It's much better. And that isn't even close to how it goes Jason!"

"It isn't?"

"No! Now move over and I'll show you how it's really done." Jason obeyed and got out of Simon's chair and David sat down in it. "Do you still have the drum set and viola with you, Jas?"

"I sure do." Then he reached into his pocket and pulled out a viola and a drum set. He gave Carly the viola and he seated himself behind the drums. Then as soon as David gave them a count to three, they started singing:

"Still don't know what I was lookin' for  
And my time was running wild  
A million dead-end streets."

Then David sang alone: "Every time I thought I'd got it made. It seemed the taste was not so sweet."

Then Jason sang alone too: "So I turned myself to face me. But I've never caught a glimpse."

Then Carly: "Of how the others must see the faker. I'm much too fast to take that test"

Then together again: "Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes  
Turn and face the strange  
Ch-ch-changes  
Don't want to be a richer one  
Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes  
Turn and face the strange  
Ch-ch-changes  
Just gonna have to be a different one  
Time may change me  
But I can't trace time."

Then David turned to Carly and started singing solo again as he shred into her eyes: "I watch the ripples change their size, but never leave the stream of warm impermanence."

Carly returned his look and sang too: "So the days float through my eyes. But still the days seem the same."

Then the two of them sang together: "And these children that you spit on, as they try to change their worlds."

Then Jason joined in again: "They're immune to your consultations."

David went solo again: "They're quite aware of what they're going through."

Then Jason went solo too: "Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes!"

Then they sang together again: "Turn and face the strange  
Ch-ch-changes  
Don't tell them to grow up and out of it  
Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes  
Turn and face the strange  
Ch-ch-changes  
Where's your shame  
You've left us up to our necks in it  
Time may change me  
But you can't trace time."

David and Carly sang together again: "Strange fascination, fascinating me. Ah changes are taking the pace I'm going through."

Then Carly lead the refrain: "Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes!"

Then they all finished the song off together: "Turn and face the strange  
Ch-ch-changes  
Oh, look out you rock 'n rollers  
Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes  
Turn and face the strange  
Ch-ch-changes  
Pretty soon now you're gonna get a little older  
Time may change me  
But I can't trace time  
I said that time may change me  
But I can't trace time."

When they finished, they all looked at Simon to see his reaction. "So, how was it?" David asked.

Cowell's reaction was that he threw all three of them out and they all fell flat out against the carpeted floor just as Danny was coming back from his gorilla-cleaning duties. When he saw Jason, Carly and David fall onto their faces, he smiled. "What's the matter with you three? Did you tell the boss that you liked Ryan Seacrest better than him or something?"

Then they got themselves off of the floor. "No," answered David. "But we figured something out about Simon: he doesn't like the song _Changes_ by Butterfly Boucher and David Bowie."

Just then, Simon opened the door to his room again. "And take this with you too." Then he threw Michael straight across the floor until he went smack against the wall.

Then Jason looked at David. "I guess Simon doesn't like pop-rock either."

David turned to his best friend. "I guess not. But, I think there is one song he'd appreciate."

"Really?"

"Yeah. You see Jason; after Simon threw us out and made us fall face-first against the carpet, I realized something."

"What's that?"

"I realized that he only likes music that's not popular on radios."

"But what good music is there that isn't on the radio?"

"A lot of stuff, Jason. There is one song that hasn't failed to please anyone yet. Come on, Jason! We're gonna need more practice for this one." Then the both of them stood up and started figuring out a plan for their next song.


	7. Monkey Business

**Chapter 7: Monkey Business**

Simon was sitting down at his organ again and back to playing it. He could hardly imagine what had just happened to him and all the trouble that these simple-minded people were causing him. _First sending off my employees to Hawaii for a month, then waking me up at five o' three in the morning by singing some weird horrid turtle music, followed by painting the basement with black and pink checkers along with myself, not long after the Australian one takes my locket and starts carelessly fooling around with it, and then the baby-face, Irish girl and hippie start playing that pop-rock crap! What's next?!_ He was about to find out, for not long after he asked himself this question, he heard another piece of music start. Simon frowned. He knew who was responsible, where he probably was, and more or less why he was doing it. Simon got out of his chair and walked out to the stage to see David and the gang playing all sorts of instruments and singing in what seemed like gibberish. Then he looked at them and yelled "_**What the heck do you think you're doing?!**_"

At the sound of his voice, everyone stopped what they were doing. "We're performing the hit internet song _I am a Gummy Bear_! It's it great?" Then the singing started again: "Oh I'm a gummy bear.  
Yes I'm a gummy bear.  
Oh I'm a yummy tummy funny lucky gummy bear.  
I'm a jelly bear.  
Cause I´m a gummy bear.  
Oh I'm a movin' groovin' jammin' singing gummy bear.  
Oh yeaoooh."

At this point, Simon was pretty ticked off. But rather than killing David right on the spot, he decided to do something else. "Mister Danny! Come forward, please! That is, if you value your life."

_I really don't value it anymore_, Danny thought to himself.

"**Mister Danny!**" he called again.

At the second time, Danny immediately took an overly exaggerated step forward. "Right here, sir!"

"Good. I want a word with you." Then he glared at everyone else coldly, and they got the hint to leave. "Now Danny. I understand that you do not enjoy being with the annoying baby-faced, monkey boy that is David Archuleta, do I not?"

Danny looked at him with his attitude-filled green eyes. "You got that right. You think he's bad now? Try living next to him for over ten years and have him be one of your co-workers. He's just as annoying!"

Simon mentally shuddered at the thought of David being so annoying, but he didn't show it. "So you do hate the kid, do you not?"

"Yeah. Why?"

"Because I have another job for you, and I think you will actually enjoy this one if you hate him so much."

Danny perked up a little, then his lips curled into a dark grin and he cocked his head a little "Try me."

Meanwhile, David and Carly were sitting at the tables that she and Michael were sitting at hours ago. They held each others hands, looked into each others eyes and leaned their faces in so that they were cheek to cheek. "Eight years," David said. "Eight years I've been waiting to tell you those words..."

"And today you just figured out that I've had the same feelings for you for just as long," she finished for him.

"Yeah. And to think that..."

"That we hadn't told each other these feelings for so long?"

David laughed. "Yeah. You know, it's funny. We're already..."

"Finishing each others' sentences like in those movies?" Then they laughed together at how silly this sounded, but their laughter was shattered by someone's shadow creeping across their faces and blocking the sunlight that was so recently shining upon their bright faces through the windows. They looked away from each other and found that it was Danny.

"Danny? What are you doing?" David asked. But Danny didn't answer. He walked over to David and took him by his elbow and dragged him away. "Danny? Where are we going?" He still didn't answer. Then he picked David up and pushed him against one of the railings of the lounge that overlooked the stage. David grabbed onto it and held on for his feet were now felt unusually weak as if they'd give way the minute he stood up without anything supporting him. "Danny? What's going on? What are you doing?" He turned his head just enough so that out of the corner of his eye he could see Danny's right hand steadily holding the same whip that Simon used the whip Ryan Seacrest when season two started.

At the sight of this, Carly's eyes widened and she rushed over and grabbed Danny's wrist and held it back. "No!" she shouted. "I won't let you hurt him!"

"What the hell?! Let me go!" Danny shouted. He tried wriggling his hand out of Carly's grasp, but she was too strong.

"Don't you dare think about hurting him!" Then she pressed her foot against Danny's back and twisted his arm.

"Ow! But it's my job to do it! I'm supposed to whip him till he bleeds! Those are my orders!" he cried out in defense.

Then she let go and let him fall limply to the floor. "Then take me instead! I can take anything for him!"

Overhearing what was going on, Simon decided to interfere just like he did before. "Will you now? And what would prompt such an act of charity, Miss Smithson?"

Carly looked at him and her attitude went from one that was almost untamable to one of shyness. Then David, who saw Carly's whole tussle with Danny, spoke up. "Don't do it, Carly. I can take it."

"No you can't David! You're too sensitive!"

"I can take it," he protested.

Then Carly looked at him with a few tears in her eyes. "I don't care if you can take it or not. It'll hurt me! It may not on the outside, but on the inside it'll tear me apart! I don't care if you can take it or not, David! I can't bear to see you in pain! I love you!" Then she gasped at the last words she said. David knew that she'd say that if she didn't stop. He knew she would.

Then Simon stepped between David and Carly and looked at Carly. Then he looked at David. Then at Carly. Then David. Then Carly again. "Might I inquire as to why you, a strong and powerful 21 year old Irish lady chose a small and sensitive 19 year old boy?"

Carly frowned. "It doesn't matter who you are or how old you are, when it comes to love. For as long as you both truly love each other, that's all that matters."

"And if it's not the right one?"

"Well then you should know that, wouldn't you, Simon?"

Then from out of nowhere, Jason came in between Simon and Carly, pointed at Simon and said, "_**Buuuuurrrrrrn! **__**You got served!**_" Then Simon and Carly both looked coldly at Jason and he left. Then Carly and Simon changed their look from Jason to each other.

"Look, maybe we can arrange some sort of an agreement so that we're both satisfied with the results. Now I have a suggestion for you: You let David and Jason go upstairs to help Danny out with taking care of your gorilla."

"_**What?!**_" Danny shouted in shock. He had enough of David and Jason in the studio and when he went upstairs to take care of Simon's pet, he was actually relieved to be away from them. But if they did the work with him, he knew he wouldn't get any peace.

Simon, however, was interested in this bargain. This part of the bargain would pain Danny, despite the fact that he had somewhat empathy for his hatred against the two idiots. "And in return?" Simon asked.

Then Carly smiled a little. "How about I teach you some moves?"

This time, David was the one to shout in surprise. "_**What?!**_"

Carly's comment took Simon by surprise as well. "By that, do you mean...?"

"I'll show you when we're alone. That is, if we have a deal." Then she looked at him and raised one of her eyebrows. "Do we?"

Simon looked at her for a moment, and then he looked at David whose eyes were now almost completely out of their sockets. Then he smirked. He knew this would hurt him. Then he turned to Carly and said, "Agreed."

Once he said this, David's eyes popped completely out of their sockets and rolled jumped around on the floor like bouncy balls. Danny ran over to Simon and started to protest his latest agreement. "But Mr. Cowell! I..." But before he knew it, Simon grabbed his neck and looked at Danny in such a threatening way that he quickly changed his attitude and said, "...would be delighted with showing them how to care for a gorilla." When he said this, Simon removed his hand from Danny's neck and he added, "Speaking of which, we should get started right away." Then Danny walked away and started pushing Jason towards the elevator that he used to get to the gorilla's room.

When he did, Simon walked away and David put his eyeballs back in their sockets and came up to Carly. "Carly? Are you sure you want to do this? I could've taken the whippings. I could've."

"And be screaming about the pain and wait for hours for the stinging to stop?"

Her words took him by surprise. "Well, maybe..."

"Listen David. I've saved you from a worse fate, just be grateful for that."

"I'm not worried about _me_ right now, Carly. I'm worried about _you_ and your part of the agreement!"

"David, I'll be alright. Now you just go out there and do your part of the agreement. I can take care of myself."

"But Carly..."

"Go!" And without another word, he left.

When the three of them finally got upstairs where Simon kept his pet, Danny started telling his two neighbors all about how to take care of the gorilla. "Now first of all, you have to call it over to you by whistling for it so we can get started."

"Okay," David said eagerly. "What kind of a whistle?"

"What do you mean what kind of whistle?"

"Well there's more than one type of whistle, Danny. We need to know which kind in order to get it over here. Now, is it a whistle like a slide whistle? Or a dog whistle?"

"How about a cat whistle?" Jason asked.

"Jason, there's no such thing as a cat whistle," Danny said in a monotone way.

"Yes there is! People used to do it all the time at school whenever a pretty girl walked by. Which is weird 'cause they weren't cats at all but that's what it's called."

"Jason, that's a cat _call_, not a cat whistle," Danny corrected. Then he sighed and said, "Just watch me." Then he gave a long, loud whistle. Moments later, the floor started shaking and lights hanging from the ceiling started swinging. David and Jason had to hang on to a nearby pole to prevent themselves from losing their balance. Seconds later, they saw the gorilla's huge head come out from inside a closet and show itself. "Now," Danny continued, "We have to check it carefully to make sure that it doesn't have anything stuck in its hair that could irritate it, like a giant splinter or something. So, you guys start looking while I stand over here where it's safe."

"But Danny, aren't you going to show us how to remove a splinter from it in case we do find one so that we won't hurt it?" David asked.

"Hmm, let me think... No."

"Okay then." So David and Jason tip-toed over to the giant beast and started examining its hair. As they did, Danny giggled to himself about his little prank that might actually get them attacked. But his laughter was soon interrupted when he saw David and Jason pulling at a big piece of wood that was stuck in one of the gorilla's hands and couldn't help but to notice that they were doing it all wrong.

"No no no, you dimwits! Back off!" he shouted. Then he walked over to them and started pulling at the piece of splintered wood out of the beast himself. "This... is... how... it's... done!" Then he finally pulled it out, but then he also noticed that when he pulled it out, he pulled off some of the hair that it was attatched to as well. "Oh my God," was all he managed to say before the beast used its other hand to grab Danny and continually pound his head against a hard floor.

When it put him down, Danny limply plopped down onto the floor and David and Jason looked down at him. "Was that the 'don't do this, or else that happens' part of the lesson Danny?" Jason asked.

Danny managed to get up and said, "Sure. Let's go with that. Now, onto the next part. Now we have to feed it this weird, smelly, gooey stuff that Simon made for it. Now I'll go get the food while you two keep it busy."

"Keep it busy? How do we do that?"

"I don't care! Just find something for it to do!" Then he left before they could ask anything else.

When Danny left, Jason turned to David. "David? How do you entertain a gorilla?"

"I dunno. I've never owned a gorilla before."

"Well what do you do with Archy?"

"Well, most of the time I find his favorite fetching stick and play fetch. But I don't know where we would find a..." But before he could finish, Jason already managed to pry off one of his dreads of hair and started shaking it teasingly and whistling.

"Here gorilla-ape thingy! Here boy!" And just like a dog, the gorilla looked at the piece of hair and started watching it eagerly.

"Jason, you're a genius! Throw it and see what it does!"

Jason obeyed and said, "Go fetch it, boy!" Then Jason threw the "stick" as far as he could. And just like that, the gorilla went after it. Seconds later, it came back with the lock of hair in it's mouth, dropped it at David and Jason's feet, and looked at them with a certain look in its eyes the way a puppy would. Amazed by Jason's discovery, David decided that he wanted to try it for himself. He picked it up and did it exactly like Jason.

"You want the hair boy? Do you want the hair? Huh? Well go get it boy!" Then he threw it with all his might. And just like before, it went off, came back, dropped it by their feet, and waited for them to throw it again.

"My turn! My turn!" Jason shouted happily. They took turns for ten minutes throwing Jason's hair to the beast until Danny showed up pushing a giant wooden container full of an odorous pink-orange goop to the beast.

When David and Jason saw Danny with the gorilla food, David looked at the beast and said, "Alright Jimmy. Feeding time!"

"Jimmy?" Danny questioned.

"Yeah. It didn't feel right just calling him 'it' or 'the gorilla,' so we decided to call him Jimmy. We named him after my myself cause that's my middle name. Well, my middle name is James but you get the point," David explained.

"Wait, let me get this straight: While I was gone, you two nimrods didn't get eaten, and decided to name this thing Jimmy?"

"No. We played fetch too."

"Whatever. Now after this, all we have to do is clean the gorilla's... I mean Jimmy's teeth, and we're off. And don't worry about his droppings; I already took care of that."

"Okay," David said understandingly. Then he looked at Jason. "You still have that huge toothbrush and giant tube of toothpaste with you, right Jason?"

"Yup." Then he reached into his left pocket and pulled both of the items out. Then Danny gave him a weird look.

"Jason, what else is in your pocket? Dare I ask?"

"Lots of stuff. Why?"

"Nothing." Then when Jimmy finished his food, David grabbed the giant toothbrush, had Jason put on the toothpaste, and he started to brush all of the rows of teeth that the gorilla had. Then David reached into Jason's right pocket and pulled out a long piece of rope and started using it as floss for Jimmy's teeth.

"Okay, now rinse real good Jimmy. We don't want any germs in that mouth when you go to eat your next victims, do we?" Jimmy shook his head, then he sucked in as much water as he could take from his water bowl, then spat it all out on Danny.

After wiping off the water that Jimmy had spat all over him, Danny said, "That's it. We're done. Now it's time to head back." Then the three of them got into the elevator and headed back for the main floor of the studio.

As they did, David and Jason looked back at the gorilla and saw him waving goodbye. Then they waved back. "Goodbye Jimmy!" David shouted.

"We'll see you tomorrow!" yelled Jason.

_That is if I don't kill you two first_, Danny thought to himself.

When the three got back to the main floor, David looked around. "Carly? Carly? Where are you?"

He got his answer, but it wasn't the way he expected it. He heard Carly's voice come from somewhere. It said, "Ow! Simon! Not so hard!"

"Sorry. Carly. I'm still getting used to this."

"Well just be more careful next time! Now let's try this again."

"Carly!" David shouted. He knew that the way she said that could only mean bad news for him, so he followed her voice all the way up to the door that lead to Simon's room. He quietly listened in before opening the door.

He heard Carly's voice first. "Are you sure that this is your first time doing this?"

Then it was followed by Simon's. "I'm sure. It's my first time."

"Well you're better at this than I expected you to be." These words broke David's heart. He wished that it was all a dream and that'd he'd wake up soon to discover that they were back in San Francisco and that none of this had ever happened, but he knew that this was really happening. Then the next thing he heard was Carly making a combination of noises all put together such as grunting, gasping and shouting all together. When he heard this, he decided that enough was enough! Then without a second of thought, he took a few steps back, ran as fast as he could, and burst into the room! "Alright Simon Cowell! You can take do me as much bodily harm as you can dish out, but you can not...!" Then he noticed that Simon was holding down Carly against the floor while Carly was trying to wiggle free.

When David burst into the room, Simon and Carly stopped. Then he let go of her and avoided as much eye contact with the two of them as possible. (If David didn't know any better, Simon would have said that he was blushing and was a bit embarrassed to be seen like that with Carly.) Carly straightened herself out and dusted herself off. "Hey, David! We didn't expect you back so early or else I'd have stopped teaching earlier to come out and say hi and stuff."

David was a little confused. "Teaching?"

"Yup. Simon and I were just practicing some cage fighting until you three got back from taking care of the gorilla." Then she turned to Simon. "You know, you're quite good for this being your first time." Then Simon looked at Carly from the corner of his eyes, shrugged casually, then turned away again, his cheeks now growing a rosy pink because of her comment.

"Cage fighting? Oh! So that's what you two were doing!"

"Well yeah. Kristy taught it to me a few weeks ago. What'd you think we were doing?"

David's cheeks turned a brilliant shade of pink. "Well I, I thought you were, uh... I'll tell you later when I'm not as embarrassed for interrupting you two." Then he and Carly left the room, leaving Simon alone.

When they did, Simon's face color went back to normal and he sat down back at his organ. He knew what David thought they were doing and was a bit embarrassed (and disturbed) by the thought of it. He tried thinking of some way to get his mind off of what had just happened. He was desperate enough to try anything. Then something came to him. "Now how does that _Changes_ song go again?"


	8. Peace Out Man

**Chapter 8: Peace Out Man**

When David and Carly got out of Simon's room they headed toward the table that they were sitting at before. "So Carly, did you two have fun practicing cage fighting while we were gone?" David asked.

Carly smiled. "Of course we did. I mean, sure he's a bit rough and started out a little slow, but outside of that, he's pretty good at it, for an British box man."

David smiled. "I'm glad that you did that for me Carly. But when you first suggested the idea to show him some 'moves', it didn't sound like you were going to teach him cage fighting."

Carly frowned a little and raised an eyebrow. "What did you think I meant by that, then?" she asked.

David was surprised that she asked him. His cheeks grew a brilliant shade of pink. "Well I, thought that you meant, um, well, uh..."

Carly didn't exactly get what he was trying to say until it dawned on her. Her eyes widened in shock. "Oh! You mean that you thought he and I were...?"

She didn't need to complete her sentence for him to know what she was going to say next. "Uh, yeah."

She shuddered at the thought. "_**Ew!**__**No! Oh my God! David!**_ I can't believe that you would think that he and I would actually do that!"

David shuddered at the thought too. "I know, but that's what it sounded like at first."

Carly shook her head. "No David. We're just friends. And besides, he's not _that_ kind of a person. He's a gentleman and he knows that no matter what, I'd be true to you. And if he dares think otherwise, then I'm gonna have to beat him up so badly that he'll wish that he was already dead to make the pain stop."

David smiled, then he rested his arm around her shoulders. "I'm just glad you're okay. Now let's go sit down. You must be tired after spending half an hour on teaching cage fighting."

As they walked over to the tables, Simon watched the two of them from the upper lounge. He remembered when he and Paula were like that. Back ages ago. He put his arm around her the same way David was doing right now with Carly. Then they finally sat down and held each other's hands. He remembered when he and Paula used to hold hands like that. Then he noticed how David and Carly's eyes were focused on one another without ever leaving them off of the other. He and Paula used to look at each other in the same way that they were doing right now. No doubt about it, these two were in love. _Or at least that's what they think_, Simon thought to himself. _Then the next thing he knows, she'll leave him with a broken heart wishing that he were dead. Just the way that Paula did to me._

But as he thought of those words, he took notice of the cruelty in them. Then he remembered that Carly said that she was willing to take all those whippings for David and wrestled Danny to the ground to make sure that he didn't hurt him. Then he recalled that David claimed that he could take it. A bold move indeed. But was that because he didn't want Carly to get in trouble with Simon? _Perhaps._ Then he remembered how Carly willingly made a deal with him to save David from his punishment; a way to prove her love to him as well. Then Simon rested his right arm against the railing and thought even more about it. _Maybe they are truly in love with each other. Maybe fate meant for them to be together. Maybe they're the two in two million hearts that were truly made for each other._ Then he saw David lean in closer to her and give her a kiss on her cheek, which caused her cheeks to turn a bit of a rosy pink and for her to smile at him sweetly. _Maybe. Just maybe..._

Simon wasn't the only one watching David and Carly. Michael and Kristy Lee were watching them too. Michael was resting his elbow on Kristy's left shoulder and was staring at the two lovers coldly. "Can you believe them, Kristy?" Michael asked aloud. "After what Carly did with Simon and David caught them doing it and they're _still_ in love with each other! Can you believe that?!"

"No, I can't," she sighed. "If I were her, I'd have left him and gone with Simon."

Michael looked at Kristy in bewilderment and disbelief (not to mention shock and disgust). That wasn't where he was getting at all, but he shook it off and continued. "If I were that little boy, I'd have left her and found someone else to love and spend the rest of my life with. Someone who will be loyal. Someone like me."

At the suggestion of himself, Kristy Lee laughed. "Oh, good one Michael! You really had me for a second there."

"I'm serious, Kristy. I think that Carly and I would make a much better couple and I'd make her much happier than that wretched fool, David would."

When he told Kristy that he was serious, she stopped and looked at him. "No offense Michael, but I don't think so. She's finally with the one she loves and she's happy with that. What makes you think that you can break those two up from such a loving relationship?"

"The powers of persuasion, Kristy Lee, the powers of persuasion. And a little science too."

"Don't do it, Michael. Not even science can break the eternal bonds of love. Especially at their level of it. If you're as smart as you say you are, you'd know that." But by the time she said this, she turned her head to where he previously was standing and found that he was now gone. Then she noticed that he was walking over to David and Carly's table. "The guy must have a death wish to deal with them now."

He didn't have a death wish, but he was gonna wish he was dead soon. He came and hopped up right in front of the happy couple. They took notice of Michael immediately and they separated and acted normally. Carly frowned. _And just as I was getting comfortable_, she thought as she glared at him. "What do you want this time?" she asked rudely.

"I just thought I'd like to talk to the seemingly happy couple of the studio is all," he said casually. Then he turned to David. "I'm surprised about how calm you are about this, David. After you caught Carly and Simon having their little 'moment' together earlier, I thought you'd be more upset."

_Upset?_ he asked himself. _Why would I be upset? Unless he means… _Then he gasped. "Michael! Not you too!"

Carly caught on too. "You think I did that with him too?!"

Michael shrugged as if he said nothing wrong. "Well it was no secret. Everyone heard you two in there..."

"Stop! Now just stop right there, Michael!" Carly shouted. She didn't want to hear anymore of what he thought they were doing because it was all a lie.

David had enough of this too. "Michael! Do you seriously think Simon would do that with Carly willingly letting him?!"

Michael paused for a moment. He didn't think about that. "Well, now that you mention it..." But before he could finish, David grabbed him and bashed his head against the table until his head was bleeding all over the floor.

David and Carly stared at Michael for a moment, not saying a word, then David broke the silence by asking Carly something. "Carly? What made-up holiday is it today?"

Carly looked at a special calendar that David had given her for her birthday and read the writing that David had written below the number. "Um... it looks like today is 'Aloha Hippie' day."

David smiled. "'Aloha Hippie' day?! Alright! Now we get to wear grass hula skirts and ty-dye T-shirts! I gotta tell Jason and the others to get ready to celebrate!"

By now Simon had gone back into his room and was once again playing the organ, then he heard the door to his room swing open. He turned his head around to see which one of his ridiculous crewmembers it was this time, and saw David wearing a grass hula skirt, a ty-dye T-shirt, a big pair of round purple sunglasses, and a pink and blue lei around his neck. "Aloha, Simon Cowell, m' brotha!" David exclaimed, throwing his arms outward.

"What did you just call me?" he asked. Simon's eyes weren't used to seeing such colors being worn on a person, so he looked away from the colorfully dressed nutcase, who was for some reason talking with an accent that was somewhat English like himself, but was very odd.

"Don't act all emo like that, brotha Simon. Peace!" he said. He then went over and put his arm around Simon's shoulders. "We is all brothas and sistas, and we all must see his light, or end up, like, rejected by the world's awesome groovyness."

"Get your hand away from me!" Simon shouted. Then he threw David's arm away from him. "Now if you dare touch me like that again, I'm going to have to throw you outside and feed you to the birds!"

David moved his glasses down a little and started talking normal again. "But sir! It's 'Aloha Hippie' day! Everyone's supposed to act like this. And I don't think birds would want to eat me! Birds like amazing cooks and singers, and that's what I am! And besides, birds give me good advice like Kristy and Jimmy does!"

Simon's eyes had somehow gotten used to staring at the kid's strange clothing, and he shot him a strange look. "Ok, Kristy I know and wish I didn't, but who's Jimmy?" he asked.

"Oh, Jimmy's your pet gorilla. Jason and I didn't find it polite to just call him 'the beast' or 'it' or 'the gorilla', so we decided to name him after myself..."

"You named him?!"

"Yeah. And he's on stage with us right now, celebrating with us at our luau."

"_**WHAT?!**_" Then he walked past David out to the stage and saw that the place had gotten a major makeover. The stage appeared to have been spray painted with an odd shade of green with purple, yellow and orange peace signs and smiley faces everywhere. The walls were covered with the same kind of green paint with giant yellow happy faces on them. Everyone on the studio was wearing identical clothing to David's, including Archy, who had a few leis of blue, white and pink around his tiny neck. Danny was wearing a straw hat with leaves around it, Jason had some sort of war paint on him, and Carly was wearing a pair of bellbottomed pants and had a purple headband around her forehead. Off to the right side of the stage, Jimmy was eagerly watching all the excitement from his cage and jumping up and down making the floor shake slightly. Not wanting him to feel left out, Jason tossed a pineapple over to him. Jimmy caught it and tossed it into his mouth as he looked on happily.

Simon, of course, was not pleased with this sight at all. "_**You painted my studio again?!**_"

"Well we had to! After all, it is Aloha Hippie day, so we painted the place with some tye-dye paint that we found in Jason's pocket."

Simon stared angrily at David. "Take it down!"

"But Aloha Hippie Day isn't over ye- "

_**"I said take it down! **__**NOW!**__**"**_

Not wanting to argue with someone who was not only his master, but also had a powerful arm and had a known tendency to kill people if they didn't cooperate (or just pissed him off in general), David gave Simon a quick salute. "Yes sir, Simon Cowell, sir!" Then he zoomed right past him and started scraping the paint off the walls immediately. Not exactly sure about David's actions, the gang all turned to where Simon was standing. Simon gave them all the same harsh look that he had given David and they knew right away why he was doing it and immediately started helping David out. During all the commotion, Simon walked back into his room, sat by his organ and rested his head against his large hand. _Could this possibly get any worse?!_ he mentally asked himself. Little did he know that he was going to have even more trouble when four explosion survivors join the gang.


	9. Blast of the Past

**Chapter 9: Blast of the Past**

David and the gang were extremely busy. They were trying their best to scrape off the tye-dye paint off of the stage and the walls. They tried doing so for an hour without any hope. "God, I wish this paint was easier to remove," David sighed. "If I'd have known that this paint would've been so hard to remove and that Simon was gonna make us take it off, I wouldn't have put it on in the first place."

Then Jason, who was busy trying to scrape the paint off the walls, stood up and wiped some sweat away from his head. "Man. This is hard to get off for perming ants."

Carly looked at Jason. "Perming ants?" she asked.

Jason nodded. "Yup. It says it right here on the can: Perm-an-ant tye-dye paint. When you think about it, it's kinda stupid 'cause ants don't have hair, and even if they did, why would you want to give one a perm?"

"What?! Let me see that!" She snatched the paint can away from Jason's hands and read it for herself. She looked at the paint can and right there in bold letters it said "Nora's Totally Groovy Tye-Dye Spray Paint. Like, totally glows in the dark!" Then she read under it at what Jason was reading. "Jason! This isn't for perming ants! It says _**Permanent!**_ As in, we just sprayed the _American Idol_ top 12 studio with permanent glow-in-the-dark tye-dye spray paint!"

Jason looked at her blankly as if he didn't know a single word she said. And he didn't. "Can you run that by me again?"

"She means that we'll never get this paint off no matter how hard we try!" Michael screamed.

Danny rolled his eyes. He foresaw something bad coming from this Aloha Hippie day stuff, and he was right. "I knew something stupid like this would happen. I just knew it."

"Shut up, Danny!" Mr. Cook shouted at him. "We don't want Simon to be worryin' about this little accident, would we?"

Danny saw his point. His mind wondered what Simon could possibly do to them. He shuddered at the thoughts that came to his head. "Well then what are we gonna do? We can't just leave the paint on the walls and the floor like this! It'll be a disaster! And embarrassing."

"It's simple, Danny. Now all we have to do is paint over this 60's crap with the right colors that it used to be then everything will be perfectly fine."

"I like the sound of that Mr. Cook, but how are we gonna get the right paint for the job?" questioned David.

"Just leave it to me," said Jason heroically, as if he were about to save the whole world from an invasion of tea and crumpets or something. He reached into his left pocket and was practically sucked into it. David and the others looked at him with inquiring looks as he did so, wondering not only if he'd ever emerge from his pocket, but also how his pockets could possibly be so big and how he could fit all that stuff inside of them. Five seconds later, Jason had successfully come out of his pocket with a bunch of paint buckets in his arms. "Here we are! Every color that we need is right here. And I got all the brushes too."

David and the gang all gave a huge sigh of relief. Not only were they saved from being scolded from Simon Cowell for such a stupid mistake (again), but for the fact that Jason had successfully gotten himself out of his pocket. They opened the paint cans and immediately started repainting the studio. Ramiele was given a ladder so she could start painting around the window and keep watch at the same time. She was vigorously stroking the wall with her brush; then she could've sworn she saw something out of the corner of her eye. Something that was falling from the sky. She looked again to be sure, and there she saw four battered but somewhat-floating parachutes that had four people on them, one on each. Ramiele's mouth fell wide open and the paintbrush she had fell to the floor for she was too shocked to grasp it. She called for the others. "Guys! Guys! There's four people down on parachutes and they look unconscious! Come here! Look!"

David, Carly and the others stopped painting and immediately looked out the window. Their eyes widened at the sight. Four unconscious people on parachutes! And they were coming their way! "Oh my god!" David cried. "Ramiele's right! Quick Jason! Hang on to my legs and I'll swing out the window to get them! They don't look too far!" Jason obeyed and grabbed onto his feet and the high-top Chuck Taylors that were on them. David dove down to scoop up one person. His arms stretched outward to grab the poor unconscious person and he grabbed a hold of them immediately. Then with his legs acting like a bungee cord, David sprung back up inside with the person. He went back through the window two more times and picked up two more of them. "Three down, one to go!" Then he bravely went back out to retrieve the last one. Carly and the others looked at the three people David had saved. (Well, two people, really. Two of them were humans and the other was a human-robot.)

The first one that David saved was a girl about their age. She had curly blond hair and was extremely slender. She was wearing a blue short-sleeve top with skinny blue jeans and a pair of white flats on her feet. The second one, the other human, was dressed in torn-up blue jeans and a leather jacket. She had black hair with blond highlights. Her makeup was dark and her face was as pale as the other girl's. This girl looked like a tough biker and made Ramiele start to shake. In one of the girl's hands she held what looked like some sort of an oversized key made of ebony with a golden handle. The third survivor, the half robot, was very peculiar. Nobody knew he was part robot at first until Carly and Michael noticed his slight metallic feature. Michael used his Nano-Bot Identifier (or NBI, as he called it) to identify what kind of robot it was. The NBI defined the robot as a bending unit with the serial number 2716097. Other than that, none of the other information the NBI gave him was very useful as to its origin or who it belonged to. Guessing by the look of the blond girl's clothes, Carly estimated they probably escaped some sort of a large explosion that took place on an airplane and they used their parachutes to just barely escape and that they have been passed out for almost an hour. Carly looked closely at the three of them. For some reason, they seemed familiar to her, although she had never seen them before in her life.

The tough-looking girl woke up first. She slowly opened her hazel eyes to see what had happened. She blinked a few times, as if she was just waking up from a very deep sleep. Her vision was a little blurry at first, but after a few seconds her eyes adjusted themselves. She looked up at Carly, who was carefully watching over them. She gave a sigh of relief. "Oh thank God," she sighed. "Thank God you're alright!"

The girl smiled at Carly as if she was an old friend that she had the pleasure of meeting again. Moments later, the blond girl and the half robot had awoken as well. When they had realized that they were rescued, they looked around, curious about their surroundings. Carly and the others watched the three of them curiously. They didn't know what to think of them or how to start a conversation with them either. After a while, the hazel eyed girl started the conversation between them by suddenly shouting in a gravelly, "Carly! You saved us!"

Carly looked surprised. How did she know her name?! She didn't even know them! But apparently they knew her. The girl tapped the blond girl and the robot on their shoulders and the other two turned their attention to Carly as well. "Brooke! Chikezie! Carly saved us!"

Carly was in complete shock. She didn't even know these people! Yet they seemed to know her as if they were best friends or something. The next thing they did threw her off as well, for the three then threw their arms around Carly and hugged her. "We knew you'd think of something, Carly! We just knew it!" the blond girl cried happily.

Carly felt a little odd. She didn't know them, but yet she had a feeling that she did. Then the robot started stroking Carly's dark brown hair for a little while. It made her a bit uncomfortable, but he soon stopped. He backed off a few steps. "Carly, your hair's not wet. Plus, the burns on your arms are gone," he said with a little confusion.

Carly raised an eyebrow. "What burns?" she asked.

The half robot opened his mouth to say something, but he was interrupted when David had finally come back up with the fourth survivor in his arms. They didn't see who he had, but they saw that his face was filled with both shock and confusion. "Uh, guys? You better come see who this one is."

Carly broke away from the other three and everyone rushed over to see the fourth survivor that David had rescued. When they did, they were all shocked. "What?! No! Th-This can't be!" Carly gasped. But it was. The person David was holding in his arms, was an unconscious and very burnt Carly Smithson. The sleeping Carly seemed to look as if she'd never wake up again, but then a few seconds later she started coughing out water and was slowly regaining her consciousness. She stood up weakly at first with her knees shaking uncontrollably. She almost fell, but David caught her and gently pushed her back up. The burnt Carly stood up without any problems now, and stared at David and the gang.

"Da-David?" she stuttered.

David's eyes widened. Without thinking, he immediately said, "Yeah?" Then she came up to him and wrapped her arms around him tightly.

"David. I haven't seen you for about a year now," she said softly.

David looked surprised. Did she say it's been a year since she'd seen him? That was impossible! She was here with him the whole time! Wasn't she? Then the Irish girl loosened up her grip on him a little and gave him a kiss on the lips.

Obviously, the other Carly wasn't too happy about this and she pushed the other Carly away from David. "Get your hands off of him!" The other Carly looked surprised, and everyone looked between the two Carlys in confusion. They looked at the one on the left, the one with dry hair and no burns who was with David. Then they looked to the one at the right, the one that had dripping wet hair and burns all over her arms and was standing alone. The blond girl rubbed her eyes to make sure she was seeing this correctly, and she was. There wasn't any doubt. They were both one and the same person. But no one was quite sure how this could be.

After a few moments of silence and looking back and forth between the two girls, Jason finally broke the silence by suddenly blurting out, _"Jason confused!"_

"Yeah, I don't get it either," said the gravelly-voiced girl in agreement. "There are _two_ Carlys?! What's going on here?!"

The burnt Carly, whom we will call Future Carly from now on, looked for a moment at the other Carly, then gasped. "I know what's going on here!" Then she faced the other three survivors, who she apparantly was friends with. "Guys, we're in my past!"

The three survivors exchaned glances at each other. "Your past?" the blond girl questioned. "But..."

"Now hold on here!" David cried. "I don't quite get it. What's going on here? Do you mean to tell us that you guys are from the future?"

The robot rolled his large brown eyes. "Well duh," he said sarcastically, as if it was supposed to be obvious. "You're boyfriend wasn't too smart in the past, was he, Carly?"

"Hey! Don't you go accusing David of being dumb!" Future Carly shouted defensively.

"Now wait! I still don't get it!" David shouted quickly. He didn't want Future Carly and the robot to start fighting and for Simon to come out and be even more upset with them than he already was. (If that was possible.) "Now I know who you are, uh, Future Carly, but who are they? How do you know these guys? And why are you guys coming into the past?"

Future Carly looked at him and sighed. "Well, I guess its the time to tell you. First things first, let me introduce you to my friends." Future Carly walked over to the three unusual explosion survivors and introduced them one by one. "This here's Brooke White, the blue eyed blond Arizona girl who's had experiences with extraterrestrials, a.k.a. aliens. And this here is Chikezie Eze, the most stubborn half-man-half-robot I've ever had to deal with. But unlike most robots he has feelings,"

"I told you, they're not really feelings!" Chikezie said defensively.

"Then why did you start crying when you heard that the tameless were attacking the turtles?" Brooke asked. That, of course, threw him off and made Future Carly give him an 'I-told-you-so' smile.

"Tameless?" David asked.

"I'll explain later." Then she finally introduced them to the last member of the group. "And this is Amanda Overmyer. She's the leader of the group, and she's a self-trained keyblade master."

"Keyblade?" Jason asked.

"And these are my friends from San Francisco. That's David Archuleta, his pet dog Archy, his neighbor Danny Noriega, his best friend Jason Castro, his boss Mr. David Cook, his boss' business rival Michael John, his boss' cousin Kristy Lee Cook, and his and my favorite music artist Ramiele Malubay."

"Wow. You have a lot of friends," Brooke pointed out.

"I wish I had that many," Amanda commented in a jealous tone.

"Well that's all of them. Now back to you guys' questions. The reason why we're here is that we're on a mission to save all the planets from these psycho things called the tameless. They come from the wild sides in people. There are also these other things called nobodies. When a strong-hearted person becomes a tameless, they're body starts to act on its own will. That thing is called a nobody. And these people who control them are called Men in Tights III. We don't know what they're up to yet, but we're sure that whatever they're doing is defiantly not good."

Jason, of course, hardly understood anything Future Carly was trying to tell them. "Too much information! Dread head... hurting!" he cried.

"To put it simply, tameless are dark creatures who want to destroy the worlds. Nobodies, who are controlled by Men in Tights III, are bad too. And we're traveling back into the past to stop them from taking over the worlds."

David's face lit up with a sudden enlightenment. "Oh my God! I think I get it! You guys are trying to save us from these tameless things and to do that you've been going into the past! Right?"

"Ding-ding! We have a winner!" Chikezie said again sarcastically. Then Amanda used her keyblade to knock Chikezie on the head.

"Knock it off, metal mouth!"

"That reminds me. What is that thing?" David asked, pointing at Amanda's keyblade.

"That's a keyblade," Future Carly explained. "It's a choosy weapon that's used to fight off darkness and it can open any door of any kind, and..."

But Mr. Cook took note that the handle of the keyblade appeared to be made of gold, meaning that it could be very valuable. "Say, is that _gold_ on the handle of that keyblade thing of yours?" he asked Amanda.

"Um, yeah, why?" Then he snatched Amanda's keyblade to get a better look. "Hey! You can't do that!"

"Oh yeah? Try to stop me! Haha! Nah nah nah nah nah nah!" But as he was about to examine the keyblade's handle, the keyblade disappeared from his hands, and reappeared back in Amanda's hands!

"I told you that you couldn't do that," she said, smiling.

Mr. Cook was a bit surprised at first, but then he laughed. "That's a pretty good trick! Very cool!" Then he took the key away from Amanda again. "You almost had me fooled for a moment there." Then he was about to examine the handle, when- Poof! It was gone again, and back in Amanda's hands! "Alright sister, it was funny the first time, now cut it out!" He stole it away again, and again, it went back to Amanda.

Jason laughed stupidly and clapped his hands. "Do it again! I like that trick!"

But Mr. Cook wasn't amused at all. "Are you trying to make a fool out of me or what?!" he asked angrily.

"If she is, she's doing a pretty good job," Michael laughed.

Mr. Cook was very upset, and he was about to punch Amanda right in the gut, but Future Carly firmly grabbed a hold of his arm and gave him a stern look, then he put his arm down and she let go of him. "You didn't let me finish. Now when I said that the keyblade is choosy, I meant that once it's chosen its master, it stays with it and it can't be wielded by anyone or anything else in the universe unless the wielder is dead. And even then, it probably won't choose you. You gotta have the right stuff to have it, and I doubt any of us will ever have the right stuff."

"Oh! So that's why it kept going back to Amanda! Because she's its master!" David said in an understanding tone. "But there's still one thing I don't understand: What do tameless look like?" He got his answer soon enough, for a dozen or so tameless had appeared right before their very eyes!

"That's what they look like!" Future Carly cried. "Now run you guys! We'll take care of them!"

David and the gang didn't want to argue with Future Carly, who obviously knew more about this kind of thing than they did, so they obeyed her and they immediately started running for the only safe place they could think of at the moment: Simon's room. They immediately rushed up the stairs and wasted no time opening the door, rushing inside, and shutting it immediately. "Phew!" David sighed, wiping some sweat away from his forehead. "Okay. We're safe in here."

"Or are you?"

David gave out a girly shriek (so un-manly like) and turned around to see who had said that, but then he gave a sigh of relief when he found out who it was. "Oh Simon! Thank God it's only you!"

Simon, of course, had absolutely no idea as to what was going on, so he saw fit to ask them what was going on. "And what, might I ask, are you all doing in here when you should be working out there?!"

"Well, it's a long story. You see, it all started when we..." But he didn't finish, for he found himself being pushed out of the way as Simon was approaching the door. "Um, Simon! Don't do it! Don't go out there! It's not safe! It could be very dangerous if you open that door! _**Very**_ dangerous!"

But Simon paid no attention to the warnings that David and the others gave him. He wanted to see what was going on out there for himself. He finally reached the door and thrust it open and he could hardly believe what he saw. True, the studio was still halfway covered in tye-dye paint, and the half that wasn't was still wet, but that wasn't what got his attention. What did get his attention was that there were hundreds of small, black creatures with beady red eyes and odd symbols on their chests were attacking four others that he didn't recall having in his studio before. The blond girl, Brooke, was holding a wand and saying some very unusual words to send all sorts of things shooting from her wand. The other girl, Amanda, was dashing back and forth across the stage using her keyblade and umbrella to make the tameless either disappear or send them flying into the sky for the birds to eat. The soggy and burnt, Future Carly, used what Kristy Lee taught her and was cage fighting tameless left and right with her special moves. The half-robot, Chikezie, was busy grabbing certain tameless and extending his arms as he swung them around and made them crash into other tameless and cause them to disappear. Sometimes he extended his arms out so far that they almost crashed into the other three more than once, but every time he did they always seemed to dodge by ducking or jumping over them. Sometimes they even used this to their advantage as an element of surprise to their enemy! _Very impressive_, Chikezie thought.

After all of the tameless gave up, Future Carly turned toward her three companions. "Good job, you guys! If we keep this up, all of the worlds will be saved from the tameless in no time!"

"And then everything can go back to normal and we can all go home!" Brooke chimed in happily.

Future Carly nodded. "Yup. No more of this constantly being under threat of an attack from the darkness, no more worrying about a hostile takeover from Men in Tights III, and..." She didn't get to finish because she noticed that Simon was giving her a puzzled look. She smiled. "Hey, Simon! I haven't seen you for awhile now!"

The other three, who unknowingly had their backs turned to Simon, gave Future Carly a confused look. "Who?" asked Chikezie. Future Carly pointed to the man that they had their backs to. They turned around to find the box-headed British _American Idol_ judge_, _Simon Cowell, was staring at them. Brooke gasped and covered her mouth, Amanda's eyes widened and her jaw dropped as her face lost all its color, and Chikezie screamed and without warning his eyes popped and the glass shattered all over the deck. "Oh crap! Not again!" moaned the now blinded Chikezie.

Future Carly sighed. "I'll help you," she said as she walked over to Chikezie. She took a pair of oblong, light bulb-ish eyeballs from Chikezie's chest cavity and gently placed them back into his eye sockets. David and the others had come out of Simon's room and saw Brooke, Amanda and Chikezie's reactions to Simon. He of course, was clueless as to what was going on, and he gave Future Carly a confused look as if to say, "Care to explain?"

Future Carly sighed and looked up at him. "Looks like I'll have to explain this again..."


	10. Studio Fever!

**Chapter 10: Studio Fever!**

After Future Carly had explained the whole story to Simon, everyone soon found out why and how they got here. After these three people named Luke Menard, Kady Malloy, and Robbie Carrico mysteriously vanished, the four of them were sent to protect the worlds in their place. They've been to all sorts of incredible places, including places they've only heard about in books or movies. They came here and somehow ended up on the _Titanic 2_. Then, like the first _Titanic_, the ship crashed into an iceberg and everyone except the four of them died. But there was no need to worry. They were only lame kiddie show characters, much to everyone's relief. After telling their story, Simon allowed the four unusual newcomers to work in his studio.

After their little incident with the tameless, everyone was a bit more cautious than usual. They watched the shadows to make sure there was nothing in them, they used a flashlight to light their way through the studio at night, and they always made sure that they were close by to someone who could either see or hear them just in case they got into trouble. A few times, they swore they could've seen something moving within the shadows, but when they checked again, nothing was there. Jason, however, often thought they were everywhere he looked, but everyone knew that it was just his imagination.

"He's becoming the guy that cried tameless," Danny chuckled to himself as he wiped the judges' table.

And right on cue, Jason burst out from basement, came up and started screaming "Tameless!"

Amanda rolled her eyes and walked over to Jason. "Where are they now?" she asked flatly.

Jason pointed a shaky hand towards the hallway that leads to the broken Coca-Cola machine. "There!"

Amanda sighed and went in. She looked around for a while, and then came back out. "There's nothing there, Jason. It's safe."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes, I'm sure! I checked that freaking hallway ten times today!"

"Oh, okay. Thanks."

Amanda walked over to where the other three were sitting and sighed. "You know, I almost wish that some tameless would show up just so we could have something to do."

Brooke somewhat-sleepily nodded. "At least then we were doing something."

Chikezie scoffed. "You guys should be grateful that there aren't any tameless or nobodies showing up. It's proof that the world is safe. In fact, I think this deserves a toast." Then he opened his chest cavity, took out a champagne glass, poured a bit of champagne in it, took out a toothpick and a green olive, put it through the olive, dropped it in the champagne, and held up the glass. "Here's to the world!" Then he gulped it down and tossed the glass onto the floor, causing it to shatter. Danny, who was in charge of sweeping duties, swept up the shattered remains of the glass as he glared angrily at the back of Chikezie's head and mumbled something through his teeth that I really don't want to repeat.

David raised an eyebrow. "Say, what's that stuff that Chikezie keeps on drinking?"

"It's beer," Brooke told him, "But I don't think you'd want it."

"Why not?"

"It's a pretty strong drink, David. I don't think you'd like it. And besides, you're not old enough," Amanda explained.

"I'm nineteen!" David protested. "I'm old enough!...at heart."

Jason scoffed. "Oh please. If some fancy-schmancy half-dude-half-robot can drink it, then why can't someone like me drink it?"

"You don't understand, Jason." Amanda explained. "Chikezie's type of robot _needs_ alcohol to keep him functioning properly. If someone like us drinks too much of it, we go crazy and do all sorts of stupid stuff."

"Well don't we already do stupid things?"

"Well, yes, but that's not the-," but it was too late. Jason was already talking to Chikezie about it. Amanda slapped the palm of her hand against her forehead. "Why is it always me?" she groaned.

Five minutes later, Jason was moping because Chikezie wouldn't let him have any of his beer.

"Well, maybe it's for the best, Jason, if what Brooke and Amanda said was true," David reasoned.

"Trust me, we weren't kidding," Amanda responded.

"Well, now what are we gonna do?" Jason asked. "I'm really, _really_ bored!"

Amanda shrugged. "I don't know, but I'm getting bored too."

"Me too," Brooke stated letting her head fall to the table.

"Same here," David added. As a matter of fact, everyone was getting bored. They've done all their jobs and not a sign of any tameless anywhere. And as if that wasn't enough, the lights were hotter than ever and the rays were beating down on them and the heat was starting to go to their heads.

This is just asking for trouble...

Many hours later, everyone was heart-stricken and they were all lying on the stage with exhaustion. "Ugh. This... Heat... Is... Making... Me... Really... Weak," David moaned. "Amanda... I... Need... Some... Water..."

Amanda, who was lying beside him, took out her keyblade and cast Blizzard on him. But because it was so hot in the room, the ice automatically turned into water and David just sat there and laid in it.

"Ugh. Thanks."

"Don't mention it."

But dehydration wasn't the only problem these guys had. Their vision was starting to become a bit blurry and it seemed like everything was shifting to one side or the other as if their surroundings were melting. And not a sound was made until Jason finally shouted, _**"**__**IT'S TOO QUIET!**__**" **_Then he stood up and shouted, _**"**__**JASON GOT STUDIO FEVER!!**__**"**_

Then David got up. _**"**__**DAVID GOT STUDIO FEVER TOO!**__**"**_

Then some music started to play, and everyone started to dance and wear funny-looking clothing and, well, if you've ever watched the part from _Muppets Treasure Island_ where everyone gets cabin fever, you know what's going on.

Danny: _**I got studio fever, it's eating up my brain!  
**_Michael: _**I've got studio fever, it's driving me insane!  
**_Amanda, F. Carly, Brooke: _**We got studio fever, we're flipping our bandanas  
We've been stuck inside so long we've simply gone bananas! **_

David, Jason: _**We've got studio fever, we've lost what sense we had.  
We got studio fever, and we're all going mad!  
**_Chikezie looked at everyone and laughed. "You meat bags are all the same. Add a little heat and take away some water and your sanity falls apart!" Then he got an idea. "Say, I bet Ryan would love to see this when I get back to New York." Then he pulled out a video camera and started recording the madness. But just watching them act rediculous made Chikezie feel a little left out. "Aw, what the hell. I think I'll join 'em!" Then he set the camera down and started singing along with : _**Swing your partner 'round and 'round,  
Tie him at the heel.  
Do-si-do, step on his toe,  
Listen to him squeal!  
**__(After saying that, he accidentally steps on Danny's foot and Danny started shouting nonsencical words in tune to the song.)  
__**Hang on, meatbags. Hold on now.  
It's time to stare of blink!  
Swing your partner o'er the side,  
Drop him in the drink! **_

Carly: _**We've got studio fever.  
**_F. Carly: _**No if's, and's, or but's.  
**_Carly: _**We're disoriented,  
**_F. Carly: _**And demented,  
**_Both: _**And a little nuts!**_

Ramiele: _**Studio fever, my sanity hangs by thread,  
Since we're going nowhere I've gone out of my small head!  
**_David, Carly, Danny: _**We were bored so bored and excitment's what we wait...  
**_Jason:_** But we an't gonna get none no we ain't! **_

Mr. Cook: _**I've got studio fever, I think I've lost my grip!  
**_Michael: _**I can't believe the author has made me think I've flipped!  
**_Archy: _**Woof!**_

Kristy Lee: _**I was floating 'neath a tropic moon,  
And dreaming of a blue lagoon.  
Now I'm crazy as a loon.  
Whoo-hoo-hoo! **_

All: _**Studio fever has ravaged all inside!  
This once proud building has become a glowing psycho ward!  
We were standing, standing! Doing who know what!  
And though we are all here, we're not all there! **_

_**Studio fever!**_

_**Yeah!**_

Then after everyone stopped singing, a wind started blowing against the building causing loud thud noises and everyone suddenly snapped out of their trance.

"Huh? What happened?," Jason asked.

"I don't know Jason. But now the wind's back, so maybe it'll cool down a bit!" David responded.

"Really? Yay!"

David and Jason weren't the only ones to forget what had happened. Everyone else looked at each other in confusion, not quite sure as to what they were doing. But Chikezie didn't forget what had happened. He laughed as he went back over to the camera he had set up and picked it up. He shut it off and put it back into his chest cabinet before anyone noticed what he was doing. He chuckled evilly. "Oh the things I could do with this little tape. Which of them to do first?" Then he remembered that he also had a laptop that he stole from some geeky computer nerd right before he was called to save the worlds. He snuck down to the basement and brought out the camera and the laptop. As he turned on the computer and started to get on the internet, he grinned. "Wait 'til I get this thing on YouTube..."

Back in San Francisco, Mr. Cook's step-sister Syesha Mercado was busy looking up things on her own computer. She was a little upset because her friends in San Francisco that she liked to talk to (mostly Jason) weren't answering her calls nor returning them. _Maybe they're all just too busy to answer or return your calls_, she told herself. Then she rolled her eyes. _Yeah, like they've been so busy that they wouldn't return your calls for almost a month._ She couldn't understand why they weren't talking to her. She was good friends with all of them and she hadn't done anything that would upset them. She just couldn't get it.

Syesha eventually started looking at YouTube videos for songs like "Don't Trust Me" and "When I Grow Up". Then she wanted to know if anyone had submitted anything about the Muppet song "Cabin Fever". She got a few results, and one of them shocked her. It was titled "Studio Fever! [A Cabin Fever Parody feat. David Archuleta]".

"Oh my God!," she gasped. She clicked on the video and lo and behold, there they were. David Archuleta, Carly Smithson, Danny Noriega, Jason Castro, Michael Johns, Mr. David Cook, Kristy Lee Cook, Archy, Ramiele Malubay, and a few others that she didn't know. They were all singing and dancing and wearing funny clothes. "Oh my God! So that's why they haven't been answering my calls!" Then she also noticed that part of the summary for it said "Filmed in the _American Idol_ top 12 studio." Her eyes widened. "No! No, no, no, no, no! This can't be happening!," she shouted. Then she looked at the screen as the video played on. "Don't worry, guys! I'll find a way to save you. I know I will."


	11. A Heart for Home

**Chapter 11: A Heart for Home**

"Left foot, green," Ramiele said while holding the spinner for Twister. Kristy, David, Carly, Mr. Cook, and Future Carly were on the Twister mat while Jason was sitting down on the floor next to them. He started playing with them, but after about 30 seconds of playing, he fell down. "Left foot, green! Ramiele, is that even possible?" Mr. Cook complained. He wasn't very flexible and was about to fall on top of the younger David any second now. Ramiele spun the spinner again.

"OK, right hand, yellow," she said smiling at Mr. Cook and looking at his worried face. The fear in his eyes practically spelled out that he thought this game was worse than Hell. He tried to stretch his arm over to a free yellow spot, having to reach over Kristy. His fingers were only about and inch away from the haunting yellow circle, but he couldn't manage to reach. Then, stretching his arm as much as he could he cried **"****OH MY GOD!!****" **When he finally got his fingertips just barely touching the mat, Kristy shouted "David!" This caused him to jump and fall down on top of his cousin, leaving them both now out of the game.

"You suck, Kristy!" Mr. Cook said while sitting down in between her and Jason.

"No, you're the one who sucks for falling on top of me!" she pleaded.

"If you hadn't have scared me half to death, I wouldn't have fallen on top of you in the first place!"

"Well maybe you wouldn't have fallen over if you weren't such a fat-"

"Kristy Lee Cook!" Carly cut her off. "Mine you language!"

Carly's input on her argument with Mr. Cook somehow made Kristy angry. "I'm not ten-years-old! I'm not even nineteen!" David made a face and Kristy continued. "Besides that, what are you, my mom?"

Carly was furious now. "Alright, that's it! Get really for some Irish butt-kicking!" she said while getting up from her uncomfortable Twister position. Future Carly and David sat down on top of the mat. "I don't remember being this high-strung," Future Carly said looking at David. "And I also don't remember you being this cute." David looked at her confused. It was really odd having two Carlys around.

"Hey! Girls, settle down!" Ramiele pleaded. Apparently she had enough of this fight as well.

As Kristy, Mr. Cook, Carly, and Ramiele continued to bicker, Danny came into the room. **"****EVERYONE! SHUT THE HELL UP!****"** he screamed. Everyone stopped what they were doing and looked at him.

Ramiele walked up to him, placed her hands on her hips and said with great attitude "Why don't you make me?"

Danny was shocked. "Is that a threat from someone half my size?" This comment really ticked Ramiele off. "You are such a-"

"Hey!" Brooke said. She seemed to pop up out of nowhere. Everyone now directed their attention to her. "Look, I know we've been her for a while now. It's been over a month for most of you guys and Simon's former workers haven't come back. What if they don't? We can't live the rest of our lives here arguing over stupid stuff just because we're stressed! We need to work together to find a way out of here. If not, we may never see our homes again!"

Brooke's pep talk seemed to boost David's spirits as he got up and stood next to her and continued the speech. "Brooke's right!" he said. "Jason, what do you miss the most about home?"

"Food whenever I want," Jason said.

David continued, "And Mr. Cook. What do you miss most about home?"

Mr. Cook suddenly looked upset. "My moo la."

"And Kristy, what do you miss most about home?"

"Kenny Chesney blasting through the stereo!" she said. Wow, Kristy actually wanted to go home! Maybe she was getting over Simon…

"Ramiele?" David asked

"My sushi place!"

"Danny?"

"_Queen Bees_!"

"Future Carly?"

"My friends and family!"

Original Carly looked at her future self in surprise, "Family?"

"Michael?" David continued.

"My weekly flying lessons!" Michael answered, who had just entered the room with everyone else.

"Amanda?" David asked.

"My Harley Davidson!"

"Brooke?"

"The day-care center I run!"

"Chekezie?"

"Fresh air!"

David then looked at his girlfriend. "Carly?" He asked.

She thought about it for a minute, then looked that the ground and whispered, "Nothing."

David couldn't hear her, "What?" he asked.

Carly stood up and walked towards him. "Nothing," she said loud enough so David and everyone else could hear her. This answered seemed to leave everyone in shock.

Brooke walked back over to them. "Carly, what are you talking about? Why wouldn't you want to go home?"

David's reaction was the same. "Yeah, Carly. Why?"

Carly put her arm around David. "David, can I talk to you in private?" she asked. Then they walked out of the room with everyone still confused at Carly's words. "So," Ramiele said. "Wanna play Twister?"

Once Carly and David got into the stage room while everyone else played Twister backstage, they sat down on the couch where contestants would sit when they were declared safe from elimination during _American Idol_.

David looked at the love of his life in the blue eyes. "I don't understand," he said. "What do you mean you don't miss anything? Don't you wanna go home?"

Carly sighed. "I'm not sure. I mean, Simon really hasn't made us do that much work lately, we've met some great new people. I think me and Brooke could really be good friends. Same thing with Amanda. And let's face it, she's completely awesome!"

"But just because you want to stay here," David said looking down, "doesn't mean they want to."

Carly sighed, "I guess. But...there is another reason why we should stay. Just you and me. Nobody else."

David showed his adorable little grin again. "I know what you mean, Carly. But what if we're...not...you know."

Carly chuckled, "No I don't know, David. What are you talking about?"

David's look got serious once again. "Well...what if we're not...really...meant to be?"

These words left Carly confused. She though about it for a minute. She and David not meant to be. Well, there was a bit of an age difference. And Michael really liked her. What if one day he actually managed to win her heart? And what about Alexandra Lushington from back home in San Francisco. She seemed to really like David and they've known each other way before he met Carly. The only reason Alex wasn't in this mess with them was because she was on vacation in San Antonio the day of the helicopter crash. But if Carly and David weren't meant to be, Carly wouldn't be too sure of what to do. _There's no way,_ she though. _We HAVE to be together. We just have to be!_ Carly finally had to speak up. "David, weather we're meant to be or not, I will always love you no matter what you think of me!" Then she got up and stood in the middle of the stage as if she were about to sing and turn this into a Disney scene, which is exactly what she did.

"Closed off from love  
I didn't need the pain  
Once or twice was enough  
And it was all in vain  
Time starts to pass  
Before you know it you're frozen

Ooooh...

But something happened  
For the very first time with you  
My heart melted into the ground  
Found something true  
And everyone's looking 'round  
Thinking I'm going crazy

But I don't care what they say  
I'm in love with you  
They try to pull me away  
But they don't know the truth  
My heart's crippled by the vein  
That I keep on closing  
You cut me open and I

Keep bleeding  
Keep, keep bleeding love  
I keep bleeding  
I keep, keep bleeding love  
Keep bleeding  
Keep, keep bleeding love  
You cut me open"

David was impressed by her singing. He loved it when she sang. She had such an amazing voice that completely matched her looks and personality. To him, she was like Hannah Montana, which he was a big fan of. Then Carly motioned for him to join her, and without hesitation, he started to sing.

"Oooh, oooh...

Trying hard not to hear  
But they talk so loud  
Their piercing sounds fill my ears  
Try to fill me with doubt  
Yet I know that their goal  
Is to keep me from falling

Hey, yeah! Oooh...

But nothing's greater  
Than the rush that comes with your embrace  
And in this world of loneliness  
I see your face  
Yet everyone around me  
Thinks that I'm going crazy  
Maybe, maybe

But I don't care what they say  
I'm in love with you  
They try to pull me away  
But they don't know the truth  
My heart's crippled by the vein  
That I keep on closing  
You cut me open and I

Keep bleeding  
Keep, keep bleeding love  
I keep bleeding  
I keep, keep bleeding love  
Keep bleeding  
Keep, keep bleeding love  
You cut me open"

But Carly, of coarse, couldn't let David have all the fun. So she took over once more.

"And it's draining all of me  
Oh they find it hard to believe  
I'll be wearing these scars  
For everyone to see!"

Then David and Carly began taking turns.

**David:** "I don't care what they say"  
**Both:** "I'm in love with you"  
**Carly:** "They try to pull me away"  
**Both:** "But they don't know the truth"  
**David:** "My heart's crippled by the vein"  
**Both:** "That I keep on closing"  
**Carly:** "You cut me open and I…"

**David:** "Keep bleeding  
Keep, keep bleeding love  
I keep bleeding  
I keep, keep bleeding love  
Keep bleeding  
Keep, keep bleeding love"  
**Both:** "You cut me open and I  
Keep bleeding  
Keep, keep bleeding love  
I keep bleeding  
I keep, keep bleeding love  
Keep bleeding  
Keep, keep bleeding love  
You cut me open and I"  
**Carly:** "Keep bleeding"  
**David:** "Keep, keep" **Both:** "bleeding love"

After this musically romantic moment, they shred into each other's eyes and just starred. _What was I thinking?_ David thought. _How could I possibly think me and Carly weren't meant to be? We have such chemistry! Hmmm...Life is gonna be sweet!_ At this very moment, Simon walked into the room clapping.

"Wow! That was really quite excellent! I honestly in all my years have never heard a better duet in my life!" Simon seemed to be in quite a good mood today, which caught Carly's attention.

"Gee, Simon." she said. "You sure are in a good mood, giving out complements like that."

"No I really do mean it. That was absolutely fabulous!"

"Oh, well thank you! That really means a lot." Carly stated.

"Yeah," David added. "Thanks!"

"Have you two ever thought of auditioning for _American Idol_?" Simon asked. He obviously really loved their little 'performance'.

"I auditioned for _America's Got Talent_ once," Carly pointed out. "But I got cut because Sharon thinks I need to be more 'original'."

Simon rolled his eyes. "Don't trust that stupid show or the judges. It's terrible. Just terrible."

Carly suddenly looked confused. "But I though you created _America's Got Talent_?"

"Yes, but I hate it," he said.

"Well then get rid of it." Carly suggested.

"I'd like to," Simon said. "But the stupid author won't let me."

"Hey!" Carly exclaimed. "No breaking of the fourth wall!"

"I'm not breaking it, I'm just making a statement about the author!" he replied.

"What author?" Carly asked.

"Shannon. The girl who wrote this story and made me the man that everybody hates!"

"No, that's Michael no one likes." Carly corrected.

"Well he broke the fourth wall, too! In the previous chapter," Simon stated

"See! You admit it! You did break the fourth wall!" Carly said pointing at Simon as if they were in grade school and she had just told on him.

"And so what if I did! I doesn't matter anyways!" Simon complained.

"Carly! Simon!" David interrupted. The he giggled, "Hee hee, Carly Simon. Anyways, why don't you both stop breaking the fourth wall before people mistake this for _Dora the Explorer_!" Simon left the room and David put his arm around his girl. "So do you REALLY wanna stay here?" he asked raising an eyebrow (SEXY!!!!!).

"Not a chance." Carly said. "But how are we going to get out of here?" They both thought about it for a minute, and then David got an idea.

"Hey! You know how _America's Got Talent_ auditions were a few months ago?"

Carly looked at him. "Yeah, so?"

"Well..." he continued. "That means that they're gonna starts the show in a few months and will have to edit it before then, right?"

"Where are you going with this?" Carly asked.

"Well Simon works with the show, right? So he's gonna have to leave and take care of everything. That's when we sneak out!"

"Oh!" Carly said finally understanding. "When do you think he'll leave?"

David shrugged. "Soon, probably, hopefully."

"You're such a genius, David!" she said giving him a bear hug and a kiss on the cheek. "Let's go tell everyone!"

**Chapter 12: Operation Mercado**

Backstage, everyone was no longer playing Twister and was now instead playing Monopoly. Actually, it was just Danny, Ramiele, Kristy Lee, and Amanda playing, but everyone else had someone to root for. Jason was rooting for Danny and getting overly excited, for he was jumping up and down like a nut and shouting "Danny! Danny!" Mr. Cook cheered for his cousin, Kristy Lee, while Brooke and Chekezie rooted for their future pal, Amanda. This left Michael and Future Carly rooting for little Ramiele, who was the banker. It was also her turn to move, and once she did, Danny stood up, nearly smashed the table they were playing on and screamed **"****THIS IS SO QUEER!!!****"**. All three of the playing girls leaned back with their eyes the size of golf balls. "I hate it when you're the banker, Ramiele! Ever since we were little kids you were ALWAYS the freakin' banker! YOU SUCK!!! And where'd you get the pink 50s you cheating whore?" It seemed like Danny had just about lost it! Kristy Lee got up to try to calm him down but he only snapped at her, too! "Don't you dare freakin' touch me, Kristy! Ramiele is a cheating whore!!!" Then he picked up the model dog that was used in the game. "I should cut your head off with this little doggie!"

"Hey guys!" Carly shouted while bursting through the room causing Danny to stop screaming bloody murder. "David thought of a way to get us out of here!"

"Wait," Brooke interrupted. "So you DO want to go home?"

"Well, duh!" Carly exclaimed. "OK, David. Tell em!"

"OK. So Simon works for the show _America's Got Talent_ which had auditions a few months ago. This means that he'll have to go to the studio soon to edit the show so it's ready for the summer. And while he's gone, that's when we sneak out of this place, finally go home, and then most likely never watch _Idol_ again. So who's with me?"

Brooke was the first one to speak up. "I am! I think we can defiantly pull it off." Then everyone agreed in unison and began discussing how exactly they were going to escape. In the end, they decided on climbing out the windows since Simon would most likely lock all the doors, but his box-cut brain would not think of locking all the windows as well.

About an hour later, Simon called everyone to the stage for a meeting. "Alright, I have some important news for you worthless people," he announced once everyone got to the stage. "It appears that there have been a change of plans. Obviously, most of you have been here for over a month now and unlike Mr. Cook promised, my regular workers have not yet returned from their vacation and I don't think they will anytime soon." After hearing this, Mr. Cook put his head down in shame while Simon continued. "And another thing, I got a phone call today from the producers of _America's Got Talent_ saying that I've been fired which means I will not be leaving to help out with the show and will be staying hear until the summer when auditions for _American Idol_ start. But since I don't trust you people here alone, you're all going to have to come with me to go to each city and once the live episodes start, you're all going to have to stay here and work. In other words, there's no way any of you could possibly escape." Then Simon left for his room and everyone began complaining.

"What are we going to do now?" Michael asked.

"Are we going to have to spend the rest of our lives here?" Future Carly asked Brooke.

"I can't live like this anymore!' Danny shouted.

Then Jason stood up, cupped his hands over his mouth and said, "Everyone!" They all stopped and looked at the laid-back guy as he continued. "It's not gonna be so bad." Then he started clapping and singing. "Life's what you make it so let's make it rock!"

Michael looked at Jason as if her were retarded. "Hannah Montana is not going to get us out of this mess! There has to be another way!"

"Face it, Michael." Carly told him. "There's no hope. We're trapped and no matter how much it sucks we have to get through this." The complaining and arguing from everyone continued. But it all stopped when suddenly one of the front doors opened. Someone walked in, but all anyone could see was a shadow. _Who is that?_ David wondered.

_Is that one of Simon's old workers?_ Ramiele thought getting her hopes up.

Then Jason stood up again. "Syesha!"

Yes, it was Syesha Mercado. She had finally made it to the studio and was determined to do anything in her power to save her friends. "Hey!" she shouted as she began running towards the stage. She nearly tripped over her golden high-heeled sandals. Once she got up onto the stage she hugged Jason and said "I missed you guys so much!" Once they were done hugging, Jason had to ask "How did you find us?" "Oh!" Syesha exclaimed. "I saw a video of you guys on YouTube, it said you were trapped her at this studio, so I decided I should help."

"A YouTube video?" David asked.

"The one I posted!" Chekezie said. "My video saved us!"

"What was the video?" Amanda asked.

Chekezie laughed, "Oh, it was when you guys got cabin fever and you were like 'whooo' in the head! Aw man! That was amazingly funny!"

"You put that on the internet?!" Michael exclaimed.

"It doesn't matter," Syesha interrupted. "What matters is trying to find a way to get you guys out of here. Now first of all, I need to know some of your names. Girl with the black and blond hair." she said pointing at Amanda.

"Amanda Overmyer." she said shaking Syesha's hand. "And you?"

"Oh," she said. "Syesha Mercado. Nice to meet you! And you with the crazy eyes." she said pointing at Chekezie.

"Chekezie Eze, but never use my last name. Yes I'm part robot, thanks for noticing."

"You are?" Syesha asked. "I hadn't noticed."

Chekezie sighed. "No one does."

Syesha pointed towards Brooke. "And..."

"Brooke White," she answered. "Dig the crazy afro."

"Thanks," Syesha laughed. Then she noticed something. "Two Carlys? What's going on? I thought we were on the set of _Idol_, not _Look-A-Like_."

"Ha ha!" Future Carly laughed. "Yep, there's two of us. Me, Brooke, Amanda, and Chekezie are from the future."

Syesha looked confused. "For real?"

"Yep." F.C. replied.

But Syesha was still confused. "But there's no way that...ah, I'll figure it out later. Anyways, come on! We gotta get ourselves home!" she said while walking towards the front door. Once she realized that no one was fallowing her, she stopped and turned around. "What's the hold up? Come on!"

"We can't," Mr. Cook said. "Simon Cowell has ordered us to stay and if we get caught leaving, who knows what he'll do!"

Syesha turned back to her friends. "Simon's watching you? Aw man! Now what!"

"Wait!" David said. "I have another idea!"

"What?" Syesha asked, anxious to hear his idea.

"A distraction." David said.

"A distraction?" Danny asked.

"A distraction?" Amanda also asked.

"Yeah!" David continued. "A distraction! One of us will distract Simon while the rest of us sneak out one of the windows."

"Wait," Syesha interrupted. "Why can't we just use the door?"

"They only open from the outside." Mr. Cook answered.

"Anyways," David continued. "Then the person who was distracting Simon will say they have to go to the bathroom, then once the distracter gets there they climb through the little window and escape. Then we all meet up, catch a bus to San Francisco, and we're home!"

"Hey, can I ask you something." Brooke said to David.

"Yeah. What?"

Brooke continued. "Do you think I could come along with you and stay to live in San Francisco? I'll buy a house, get a new job and things will be good! So what do you think?"

"I think that would be awesome!" David answered as Carly squealed and gave Brooke a hug. It would be a friendship between them that would last a lifetime.

"Uh..." Chekezie began. "Me and Amanda were just thinking that...we'll...we'd like to stay too."

Brooke jumped up and down and gave them both double knuckle-touches. "Boom, baby! Yeah!"

"So what about you, Carls?" Amanda asked the future version of David's beloved.

Future Carly took out a little remote from her pocket that opened up a porthole for someone to go through and end up at anytime period they choose. "I think I'm gonna go back home. I mean, my family really needs me. Jordin and Kelly both need their mommy, and let's face it, my husband can't take care of them himself."

Brooke suddenly felt upset. "Aww, Carly. I'm gonna miss you so much." she said while giving her a hug.

"No you won't." F.C. said. "You'll still have my past self." Then she reached over and gave Amanda a hug as well. "Bye Amanda." Then she let go and looked at Chekezie. He was indeed the most stubborn robot she'd ever met. But he was also the nicest. Then she gave him a hug, said good-bye to everyone one last time, and pushed the button. A blue glowing disc appeared out of nowhere and Future Carly walked through it. She was gone.

After a long pause, Carly said. "Wait! Family? Mommy? Husband? Am I gonna be a parent one day?"

Brooke sighed. "I really wish she would keep her big mouth shut."

"So," Carly said. "Who's this 'husband' I'm gonna get one day?"

"Why don't we just keep that a mystery," Brooke responded. Then David looked at Brooke in an anxious way as she winked at him with one of her blue eyes. "Oh my God, are you serious!" David shouted. Carly looked at him with a confused look on her face. "Serious about what?" David moved his eyes back and fourth. "Uh...never mind. Let's just work on getting out of here."

**Chapter 13: Farewell Simon**

After a few minutes of planning, everyone grabbed the stuff they needed to head out. "Brooke, did you get the rope?" David asked as they all hid in a giant storage room filled with furniture, speakers, and some of Ryan's creepy "items". "Right here," Brooke answered as she showed him the long white rope. Then David turned to Mr. Cook. "Do you have the bus money?" he asked. "Uh huh," Mr. Cook answered his little partner in crime with tears. The thought of spending money was just so unbearable. Then finally, David turned to Jason. "Do you have the knife?" But Jason didn't answer. Instead his face was a ghostly white and his mouth was wide open. "David James Archuleta! I mean, I know you hate Simon but come on! That doesn't mean you have to..." but David cut him off. "Jason, I'm not going to kill him with the knife! We use it to cut the rope so he doesn't suspect anything until we're far away." Jason looked stunned. "What? Kill him? No, I thought you were gonna tie him up with this rope." For Jason, some things never change.

Then a thought came to David. "Oh, we forgot to pick who's going to distract Simon!" At that instant that storage room became filled with "Not me"s and "I'm not doing it"s and "Count me out"s. "Well someone has to do it!" David pleaded. "How about the tallest does it."

"What?!" Michael exclaimed, for he was the tallest of the group, standing at 6'3". "I'm not doing it. Besides, those bathroom windows are way too small. I'll never fit!"

"You're right." David said. Then he thought for a moment. "How about..."

"Don't you dare say the shortest!" Ramiele interrupted, for she was obviously the shortest while standing at only 4'11". "How about the youngest!" she suggested. Everyone seemed to agree on that one, except David. He was the youngest for he was only 19 years old.

"OK, fine!" he cried in defeat. "I'll do it! You guys go and I'll find Simon." So they all left. But Carly wasn't happy with this idea. "Go, Carly!" David ordered while she continued to stay in the storage room with him. "I won't let you do this, David. I just won't," she pleaded.

"Why not?" he asked. "It's not that dangerous."

"Yes it is!" she said. "If you get on his nerves too much he could kill you! And I won't be there to stop him!"

David noticed how worried Carly was and wanted to assure her that everything was going to be OK. "Please, trust me! I'm not as weak or as sensitive as you think! I'm nineteen! I can handle it."

Carly looked at him as if she were about to cry. "You're right. You're not that same goofy little kid that I met eight years ago. I mean you were eleven! And now, you've really grown and this whole experience and everything that's been going on has been tough." Then she did start to cry a little. "And I don't want to sound like a mother, but...I'm really proud." Then David grabbed Carly's hands, pulled her in and shared another long and romantic kiss. To Carly, it was as amazing as the first. Who knew that after eight years of being just friends, they would finally be together? It was the position in life they belonged in. David and Carly made each other happy and feel important in the world. And they both knew that no matter how much things may change, they will always have each other.

During this, Brooke came back into the room. "Whoa!" she said as soon as she walked in. "Didn't need to see that." David and Carly stopped kissing and laughed. "Come on love birds!" Brooke told them. "We can't leave until Simon is distracted!" Brooke grabbed Carly by the wrist and while being dragged out, Carly gave David a girly little wave. Then he left the room and found Simon in his own room.

"Hey, Simon!" David said as soon as he entered.

"What is it now, David?" he asked in an annoyed tone. He seemed to be writing a letter of some sort, but David couldn't figure out what it was. It didn't matter anyways.

"I was just wondering..." David thought about it for a moment. "Who's your favorite singer?"

Simon peered over at him with a confused look on his face. He decided to answer him anyway. What else was there to do except write his letter? "Leona Lewis," he answered.

"So that's why you liked me and Carly's song," David said. "What's your favorite show? Like, TV show?"

"_X Factor_." Simon answered.

"_X Factor_?" David didn't seem to know what that was. "What's that?"

"It's an English show." Simon replied. "Are we done with these questions?"

"Not yet." David said. "What's your favorite color?"

"Gray."

"Favorite movie?"

"_Titanic_."

"Favorite song?"

"_You're the Voice_."

"Seriously?" David asked. "Me too! Wow, what else do we have in common?"

"Are you quite finished?" Simon asked again.

David looked at his watch. Everyone was probably out by now. "I guess. Sure. Well I gotta take a..."

"OK!" Simon cut him off before he could say anything else. "Just leave."

"Number two!" David quickly said as he left. Simon rolled his eyes and went back to his letter.

David ran as quickly as he could to the restroom. He tried to open up the door to the men's restroom, but the door was locked. _Figures__,_ he thought. _Oh well. I'll just go through the girl's restroom. I mean nobody's in there._ He pulled on the door to the women's restroom. It was unlocked so he went inside. It was a little strange being inside the women's restroom. _Where are all the urinals?_ he thought._ And why is there a tampon machine anyways? Why can't girls ever remember to bring their own?_ Then he looked into one of the stalls. _Why are there little trash cans in here? _he asked himself. The girl's restroom was indeed a strange place. But it didn't matter. All that mattered was trying to squeeze through that little window. Carly agreed to be outside underneath the window to catch him when he crawled out since the window was high off the ground. David climbed onto one of the stalls closest to the window and reached as far as he could. He managed to pull himself through the window, but his legs were dangling instead of his upper body like he had hoped. Then he heard Carly say something.

"David? Where are you? Come on before Simon finds out! Please!" she said. _What?!_ David thought. _Can't she see my legs? Or at least my feet? How hard is it to see a pair of Chuck Taylor high-tops?!_

The reason for this happening was because Carly was underneath the window to the _men's_ restroom. Then she looked up at the window for the women's restroom, and lo and behold, there were David's legs in his blue jeans kicking against the wall. "David!" Carly shouted at him. "Why did you go through the girl's room?"

"Because the guy's restroom was locked," he managed to say despite his uncomfortable position. "Just...just..." he tried to pull himself out of the window, but alas could not. Then he sighed, "I'm stuck".

"Great." Carly complained under her breath. She grabbed onto his ankles and pulled as hard as she could. Then she stopped. "Does that hurt?" she asked him.

"No, no." David answered. "It's just the most painful thing ever!" he cried. Carly kept pulling, and after several tries, David managed to squeeze himself out. This resulted in falling, and right on top of his girlfriend. Carly couldn't get up until David did, which it seemed like he didn't want to. "David." she said.

"Yeah?" he responded.

"Get off of me."

"Right," Then he got up and so did she. He was blushing like mad! His face was redder than a tomato, and Carly noticed. She smiled. "What are you all red about?" she asked. David put a hand up to his left cheek. It was flaming hot! "Woah," he said quietly. "Anyway," Carly continued. "Come on! We gotta go now!" With that she grabbed David's hand and ran to meet up with the others in the parking lot.

"What took you so long?" Syesha asked Carly and David once they got to the parking lot.

"David got stuck in the window." Carly answered. That's classic David for you.

"Yeah, David." Jason said to his friend. "You seriously need to lose a few pounds."

The minute Jason finished saying that, David's mouth was wide open. "What?!" he cried. "I do not! If anyone does it's..."

"Dude, David. No I don't, OK?" Mr. Cook interrupted before David could finish.

"Can we just quite arguing and leave, already!" Syesha demanded. It was important that they left immediately before Simon spotted them. So they all ran down the street to the bus stop. Syesha again had trouble running due to her high-heeled shoes. But she managed to make it to the bus stop with everyone else. As soon as they got there, a blue and white bus stopped at the bus stop and plenty of passengers went off. Michael grabbed one of them and whispered into their ear, "Whatever you do, don't go into the _American Idol_ studio." Then he let go of the person and they walked away, very confused. Then, Simon's now former works got onto the bus while Mr. Cook handed the driver the money. They driver tried to pull it out or Mr. Cook's grip, but it was too hard. "Hey! Let go!" the bus driver said. "David!" Kristy Lee shouted at him. Mr. Cook let go of the money and glumly walked away back to his seat next to Kristy.

"I'm really proud of you," she said patting him on the back.

"Thanks," he answered. "But why me? Why do I have to have such an...obsession? Why me?"

"That's just part of who you are." Kristy said. "But if you ever want your obsession to go away, you're going to have to give it up."

"Give up money?" Mr. Cook asked her.

"Yes, David! I mean, your worse then that one guy on _SpongeBob_!" she said.

"Mr. Krabs!" Little David shouted, who was too seats behind them sitting with Jason, while Carly and Brooke were across from them.

"At least try to give it up. Please?" Kristy Lee begged. She began giving her cousin the puppy dog treatment.

"Oh no, Kristy. Not the eyes!" Mr. Cook tried to look away but just couldn't. He eventually caved in. "Alright," he sighed. "I'll do it."

"WHOOOHOOO!!!!" everyone on the bus shouted simultaneously.

"This is awesome!" Kristy said. "Now, you make more money than most of us so quit going to the dollar store and go to Wall-Mart already! Buy a new car! You ain't looking so good. It could break down any second. Also, you need a major house make-over. I'll help with that but **YOU'RE** paying. Do we have a deal?"

Mr. Cook looked at her hand. He thought about it for a moment. "Deal," he said, shaking her hand. Then everybody shouted again. "WHOOOHOOO!!!!"

After about an hour of riding in the bus, Brooke asked Carly. "How much longer until San Francisco?"

"Um..." Carly looked at her watch. "About four hours."

"What?!" Brooke exclaimed. "I can't wait four more hours! I'm starving!"

"I'm sure you'll be fine." Carly said. Then she looked at Jason. "Jason's eating the gum off the bottom of the seats."

"It's good!" Jason answered her with a mouth full of gum. Then he turned to his best friend. "Hey David, you want some?"

David just ignored him and looked at Carly. "How about we sing some songs?"

"What?" Carly asked him. "Why?"

"To make the time pass. I mean, everyone looks pretty bored. And Brooke looks like she's about to die of boredom."

"If singing will give me something to do, them I'm up for it," Brooke said to both David and Carly, her two new friends.

"What should we sing?" Jason asked, who had just swallowed the last piece of gum.

David thought about it for a moment. Then he starting singing loudly so everyone could hear, "I probably shouldn't say this  
But at times I get so scared  
When I think about the previous  
Experience we shared  
It was awesome, it was dreadful  
It's not possible for me not to care."

Once everyone recognized the tune, they began clapping to the beat of the song while David continued to sing.

"And now we've almost cleared the rain  
But nothing's ever gonna change 'til Simon hears  
My tears."

Now everyone has smiles on their faces as they took a deep breath to shout, "The seven things we hate about him! The seven things we hate about him!  
Simon  
He's vain  
His games  
He's insecure  
He loves it when we're hurt  
He never laughs, he made us cry, I hate that look that's in his eye  
Us friends, we're jerks if he act like him, just know it hurts  
I wanna be in San Francisco  
And those seven things I hate the most that he'll do  
Everything is true."

Then Amanda began singing by herself, while surprisingly she was really good. "It's awkward and silent  
As we wait for him to say  
What we need to hear now  
A sincere apology  
If he mean it I'll believe it  
If he texts it I'll delete it  
Let's be clear  
Oh, we're not going back  
We're starting, some brand new lives here."

Then everyone joined in again. "The seven things we hate about him  
He's vain  
His games  
He's insecure  
He loves it when we're hurt  
He never laughs, he made us cry, I hate that look that's in your eye  
Us friends, we're jerks if he act like him, just know it hurts  
I wanna be in San Francisco  
And those seven things I hate the most that he'll do  
Everything is true."

Then Ramiele, quivering with fear, began to sing by herself. This left Danny, who was sitting next to her, in a loss of words. "And compared to all the great things  
That would take too long to write  
I probably should mention  
The seven that I like...Come on, everybody!"

Everyone did as she said and joined in one last time. "The seven things we like about him  
He's nice  
He's kind  
He's really fine  
He makes everything alright  
But those ain't true. He's not that cool. Run before the Simon rule  
He's last in line, he's made of slime, and it's not alright  
I wanna be in San Francisco  
And those seven things I like the most that he'll do  
None of them are true."

Once the song was over, everyone began clapping. Then Danny looked at Ramiele. "Wow," he said. "That was really amazing!"

"Seriously?" Ramiele asked him.

"Defiantly! It was incredible!" he answered.

"Aww. Thank you!" she said placing her right hand over her heart as a sign of appreciation.

"Hey, Ramiele," Danny began twittering his thumbs. "I've been meaning to ask you this for about a week now, but..." he hesitated. "Do you want to go out with me?"

Ramiele looked stunned. She had known Danny since they were in diapers but were never that good of friends. Now he wanted to date her. "Sure," she answered him. "Why not?"

"Awesome!" Danny said. Then they began talking some more.

"Leader of the pack, I see." Carly said to David. "Clever use of changing the song, but why Miley?"

"Have you seen her?" David said. "She's hot!"

Carly glared at David with anger in her blue eyes. "Not as much as you, though." David quickly said. Then Carly smiled once more.

**Chapter 14: One Step Further**

"'Cause the world keeps spinning  
'Round and 'round  
And my heart's keeping time  
To the speed of sound  
I was lost 'til I heard the drums  
Then I found my way  
'Cause you cant stop the beat

Ever since we first saw the light  
A man and woman liked to shake it  
On a Saturday night  
And so I'm gonna shake and shimmy it  
With all my might today  
'Cause you can't stop  
The motion of the ocean  
Or the rain from above  
They can try to stop this paradise  
We're dreaming of  
But you cannot stop the rhythm  
Of two hearts in love to stay  
You can't stop the beat!"

Everyone on the bus was singing, even the driver. Everyone had been on the bus for over five hours non-stop. Ever since David got everyone singing _7 Things_, they all began singing songs like _We Will Rock You_ to start off, but then the songs got more complicated like _I Kissed a Girl_, _Circus_, _When I Grow Up_, _Don't Trust Me_ and now they had just finished _You Can't Stop the Beat_ from the movie _Hairspray_.

"Hey, everyone! We're almost there!" the driver shouted so all could hear. Everyone then began cheering and hollering. They were obviously excited to go home.

"I can't believe we're finally going home." David said to Carly.

"Well believe it, 'cause we're almost there. Just a few more minutes," Carly responded.

"We all have really been through a lot this past month, it's incredible," David said. "We should do something."

"What do you mean?" Carly asked.

"A party!" David answered. "Yeah, we could all throw ourselves a party!"

"Aren't we having a party right now?" Carly asked him.

"Carly. We're on a bus." David said giving her a weird look.

"A party does sound like a good idea," Carly said. Then she stood up and shouted "Hey everyone! David's throwing a party for all of us tonight!" Then everyone began cheering again.

"What? Tonight?!" David exclaimed, looking at Carly with the largest of eyes.

"Yeah! I mean, what better night then tonight! Right?" she said.

"I guess," David responded.

While everyone was still talking about the party, the bus suddenly stopped. "All right! We're finally here!" the driver said. The cheering began once more as they all ran off the bus and down to Union Square where the majority of them lived. Carly agreed to let Brooke stay with her until she found a home, while Chekezie stayed with Mr. Cook, and Amanda stayed with Kristy Lee.

About two hours later, it was party time. Kristy's backyard was huge so she let David use it for the night. All the horses were locked away in the barn and all the crap was cleaned up as well. David and Kristy had set up tables with food and drinks along with his massive stereo system and both of their iPods. Once everything was set up and everyone got there, the music started playing and everyone began to have a good time. When the first song began to play, David made a face and looked at Kristy.

"Please tell me this isn't what I think it is," he complained.

"Oh yeah! _Save a Horse, Ride a __**Kristy**_! Whoo!" she yelled while dancing herself away and socializing with others.

At that time, Michael came over to talk with David. "Hey, David. There's something I'd like to say, and it's not easy. But...I'm sorry." he managed say.

David wasn't quite sure what Michael was talking about. "Sorry for what?"

Michael sighed. "Everything. You know...involving Carly."

"Oh," David said looking at the ground. Then he looked back up at Michael. "It's OK. You didn't know I liked her."

Michael looked at Carly along with David doing the same. "She's a prize, that's for sure. You're lucky to have someone like that. Unlike me who's wife is across the globe. I don't know if she even remembers me!"

David turned his head towards Michael once again. He had a sympathetic look on his face. "Michael, I'm sure you'll find the right one someday."

Michael looked at David. "You really think so?" he asked.

"Positive." David answered.

After a few seconds of silence, Michael finally spoke up. "You know...I've always thought of maybe getting back together with Kristy."

Then David gave him a push. "Talk to her!" he said and Michael walked off.

During this, Ramiele and Danny were sitting over at two of the chairs. Ramiele had her acoustic guitar in her hands as she strummed along with the song playing. Then Danny got up and turned off the music.

"What gives?" Mr. Cook shouted.

"Come on! Play something!" Danny said to Ramiele.

"What?!" she exclaimed. "No, I can't."

"Come on, Rami. Please?" Danny pleaded with puppy-dog eyes. "You're really good!"

Ramiele stood up. "OK." she said quivering a little. Then she stood up in front of everyone and began to play and sing. "We don't have to try  
To think the same thoughts  
We just have a way  
Of knowing everything's gonna be ok

We'll laugh 'til we cry  
Read each others minds  
Live with a smile  
Make it all worthwhile  
Make it all worthwhile."

Then everyone began clapping with the beat as Ramiele continued to sing. Now she had full confidence and was no longer shaking.

"Life has moments hard to describe  
Feeling great and feeling alive  
Never coming down from this  
Mountain we're on

Always knowing we're gonna be fine  
Feeling great and feeling alive  
Never coming down from this  
Mountain were on  
The feeling so clear  
And it's crazy up here  
Life is amazing with you on the ride

We don't wanna sleep  
Just wanna stay up  
There's so much to say  
And not enough hours in the day

We'll laugh 'til we cry  
Read each others minds  
Live with a smile  
Make it all worthwhile  
Make it all worthwhile

Life has moments hard to describe  
Feeling great and feeling alive  
Never coming down from this  
Mountain we're on

Always knowing we're gonna be fine  
Feeling great and feeling alive  
Never coming down from this  
Mountain were on  
The feelings so clear  
And it's crazy up here  
Life is amazing with you on the ride

No time to be lazy  
The journey is perfect  
The pace is so crazy  
The race is so worth it  
I will be with you  
We'll do this together  
Always together

Life has moments hard to describe  
Feeling great and feeling alive  
Never coming down from this  
Mountain we're on  
(Mountain we're on)

Always knowing we're gonna be fine  
Feeling great and feeling alive  
Never coming down from this  
Never comin' down  
Never comin' down  
Never comin' down (from this)

Always knowing were gonna be fine  
Feeling great and feeling alive  
Never coming down from this  
Mountain were on  
(Never coming down from this)

The feeling's so clear and it's crazy up here  
Life is amazing with you on the ride  
The place so is crazy  
The race is so worth it  
Life is amazing with you on the ride."

Everyone was now clapping and cheering for her. Ramiele was truly an incredible singer and was even better when she was confident.

"Ramiele! You were fantastic! Even better than on the bus!" David said as he gave her a great, big, bear-hug. All this praising was nice and all, but Ramiele began to feel like she had just won the final jam in _Camp Rock_ or something.

A few hours later the party was over and everyone had left for their homes. Tomorrow was a new day and their lives in San Francisco would continue once more.

"That was some party." Jason said to David as they walked home.

"Thanks. I figured it would be a good way to end this whole experience." David replied.

Jason looked confused. "What experience?"

"The one with Simon and L.A. and _American Idol_. Remember?" David asked his not-so-genius friend.

"Nope," Jason answered. "But change of subject, what's going on between you and Carly? Are you guys together forever?"

"Well, we're together. I don't know about forever, but we're together." David responded, looking at the ground as he always did when he felt uncomfortable. He tried to change the subject. "But the real question is: what's going on with you and Syesha?"

Jason grinded his teeth. "I don't know. I guess I'm just waiting 'til I know for sure if she likes me. Then it's not that awkward...like it was for you."

David laughed. "Yeah, that was a bit awkward. First I was shaking, then crying, then next thing I know I'm..."

"Making out!" Jason exclaimed cutting off his friend. Then the both of them laughter even harder. They stopped once they were at Jason's house. "Well, I don't care how much more making out you two love birds do, just not in front of me! Well, goodnight." Jason said while walking inside his house.

David continued to walk alongside the road. His house was only two down from Jason's with Danny's in between theirs. As he walked, David thought of all that Michael and Jason said about him and Carly. Were they really going to be together forever? Was it really right? Did Carly want that? Did HE want that? David pulled out a little black box from his pocket at looked at it. He knew that this task would take a lot of courage and bravery, but he knew he could do it. When you really, truly want something, you'll have enough courage to get it. And when you really, truly love someone, you want to be with them FOREVER. Until the end of time or as long as you shall live. For better or worse, for rich or for poor, in sickness and in health.

_If everything goes as I plan,_ David thought as he entered his house with Archy at his feet. _Tomorrow just might be the start of the rest of my life._

A moment later, the phone rang. David picked it up to hear his one love's sweet Irish voice. "Hi David," she said. "Not to bother you, but I'm having such a hard time sleeping. Any ideas on how I can fall asleep faster?"

David's smile was insanely huge now. "Have you ever heard a little song called _Crush_?" he asked into the receiver.

"No." Carly answered. "Is it good?"

David's smile grew another few sizes as he began to sing. During this he thought, _tomorrow is DEFINALTY going to be an amazing day._

**The End**

**Peace**

**3**

(COMING SOON: _Little Wonder_, the sequel to the 1st ever DavidxCarly tale.)


	12. Operation Mercado

**Chapter 12: Operation Mercado**

Backstage, everyone was no longer playing Twister and was now instead playing Monopoly. Actually, it was just Danny, Ramiele, Kristy Lee, and Amanda playing, but everyone else had someone to root for. Jason was rooting for Danny and getting overly excited, for he was jumping up and down like a nut and shouting "Danny! Danny!" Mr. Cook cheered for his cousin, Kristy Lee, while Brooke and Chekezie rooted for their future pal, Amanda. This left Michael and Future Carly rooting for little Ramiele, who was the banker. It was also her turn to move, and once she did, Danny stood up, nearly smashed the table they were playing on and screamed **"****THIS IS SO QUEER!!!****"**. All three of the playing girls leaned back with their eyes the size of golf balls. "I hate it when you're the banker, Ramiele! Ever since we were little kids you were ALWAYS the freakin' banker! YOU SUCK!!! And where'd you get the pink 50s you cheating whore?" It seemed like Danny had just about lost it! Kristy Lee got up to try to calm him down but he only snapped at her, too! "Don't you dare freakin' touch me, Kristy! Ramiele is a cheating whore!!!" Then he picked up the model dog that was used in the game. "I should cut your head off with this little doggie!"

"Hey guys!" Carly shouted while bursting through the room causing Danny to stop screaming bloody murder. "David thought of a way to get us out of here!"

"Wait," Brooke interrupted. "So you DO want to go home?"

"Well, duh!" Carly exclaimed. "OK, David. Tell em!"

"OK. So Simon works for the show _America's Got Talent_ which had auditions a few months ago. This means that he'll have to go to the studio soon to edit the show so it's ready for the summer. And while he's gone, that's when we sneak out of this place, finally go home, and then most likely never watch _Idol_ again. So who's with me?"

Brooke was the first one to speak up. "I am! I think we can defiantly pull it off." Then everyone agreed in unison and began discussing how exactly they were going to escape. In the end, they decided on climbing out the windows since Simon would most likely lock all the doors, but his box-cut brain would not think of locking all the windows as well.

About an hour later, Simon called everyone to the stage for a meeting. "Alright, I have some important news for you worthless people," he announced once everyone got to the stage. "It appears that there have been a change of plans. Obviously, most of you have been here for over a month now and unlike Mr. Cook promised, my regular workers have not yet returned from their vacation and I don't think they will anytime soon." After hearing this, Mr. Cook put his head down in shame while Simon continued. "And another thing, I got a phone call today from the producers of _America's Got Talent_ saying that I've been fired which means I will not be leaving to help out with the show and will be staying hear until the summer when auditions for _American Idol_ start. But since I don't trust you people here alone, you're all going to have to come with me to go to each city and once the live episodes start, you're all going to have to stay here and work. In other words, there's no way any of you could possibly escape." Then Simon left for his room and everyone began complaining.

"What are we going to do now?" Michael asked.

"Are we going to have to spend the rest of our lives here?" Future Carly asked Brooke.

"I can't live like this anymore!' Danny shouted.

Then Jason stood up, cupped his hands over his mouth and said, "Everyone!" They all stopped and looked at the laid-back guy as he continued. "It's not gonna be so bad." Then he started clapping and singing. "Life's what you make it so let's make it rock!"

Michael looked at Jason as if her were retarded. "Hannah Montana is not going to get us out of this mess! There has to be another way!"

"Face it, Michael." Carly told him. "There's no hope. We're trapped and no matter how much it sucks we have to get through this." The complaining and arguing from everyone continued. But it all stopped when suddenly one of the front doors opened. Someone walked in, but all anyone could see was a shadow. _Who is that?_ David wondered.

_Is that one of Simon's old workers?_ Ramiele thought getting her hopes up.

Then Jason stood up again. "Syesha!"

Yes, it was Syesha Mercado. She had finally made it to the studio and was determined to do anything in her power to save her friends. "Hey!" she shouted as she began running towards the stage. She nearly tripped over her golden high-heeled sandals. Once she got up onto the stage she hugged Jason and said "I missed you guys so much!" Once they were done hugging, Jason had to ask "How did you find us?" "Oh!" Syesha exclaimed. "I saw a video of you guys on YouTube, it said you were trapped her at this studio, so I decided I should help."

"A YouTube video?" David asked.

"The one I posted!" Chekezie said. "My video saved us!"

"What was the video?" Amanda asked.

Chekezie laughed, "Oh, it was when you guys got cabin fever and you were like 'whooo' in the head! Aw man! That was amazingly funny!"

"You put that on the internet?!" Michael exclaimed.

"It doesn't matter," Syesha interrupted. "What matters is trying to find a way to get you guys out of here. Now first of all, I need to know some of your names. Girl with the black and blond hair." she said pointing at Amanda.

"Amanda Overmyer." she said shaking Syesha's hand. "And you?"

"Oh," she said. "Syesha Mercado. Nice to meet you! And you with the crazy eyes." she said pointing at Chekezie.

"Chekezie Eze, but never use my last name. Yes I'm part robot, thanks for noticing."

"You are?" Syesha asked. "I hadn't noticed."

Chekezie sighed. "No one does."

Syesha pointed towards Brooke. "And..."

"Brooke White," she answered. "Dig the crazy afro."

"Thanks," Syesha laughed. Then she noticed something. "Two Carlys? What's going on? I thought we were on the set of _Idol_, not _Look-A-Like_."

"Ha ha!" Future Carly laughed. "Yep, there's two of us. Me, Brooke, Amanda, and Chekezie are from the future."

Syesha looked confused. "For real?"

"Yep." F.C. replied.

But Syesha was still confused. "But there's no way that...ah, I'll figure it out later. Anyways, come on! We gotta get ourselves home!" she said while walking towards the front door. Once she realized that no one was fallowing her, she stopped and turned around. "What's the hold up? Come on!"

"We can't," Mr. Cook said. "Simon Cowell has ordered us to stay and if we get caught leaving, who knows what he'll do!"

Syesha turned back to her friends. "Simon's watching you? Aw man! Now what!"

"Wait!" David said. "I have another idea!"

"What?" Syesha asked, anxious to hear his idea.

"A distraction." David said.

"A distraction?" Danny asked.

"A distraction?" Amanda also asked.

"Yeah!" David continued. "A distraction! One of us will distract Simon while the rest of us sneak out one of the windows."

"Wait," Syesha interrupted. "Why can't we just use the door?"

"They only open from the outside." Mr. Cook answered.

"Anyways," David continued. "Then the person who was distracting Simon will say they have to go to the bathroom, then once the distracter gets there they climb through the little window and escape. Then we all meet up, catch a bus to San Francisco, and we're home!"

"Hey, can I ask you something." Brooke said to David.

"Yeah. What?"

Brooke continued. "Do you think I could come along with you and stay to live in San Francisco? I'll buy a house, get a new job and things will be good! So what do you think?"

"I think that would be awesome!" David answered as Carly squealed and gave Brooke a hug. It would be a friendship between them that would last a lifetime.

"Uh..." Chekezie began. "Me and Amanda were just thinking that...we'll...we'd like to stay too."

Brooke jumped up and down and gave them both double knuckle-touches. "Boom, baby! Yeah!"

"So what about you, Carls?" Amanda asked the future version of David's beloved.

Future Carly took out a little remote from her pocket that opened up a porthole for someone to go through and end up at anytime period they choose. "I think I'm gonna go back home. I mean, my family really needs me. Jordin and Kelly both need their mommy, and let's face it, my husband can't take care of them himself."

Brooke suddenly felt upset. "Aww, Carly. I'm gonna miss you so much." she said while giving her a hug.

"No you won't." F.C. said. "You'll still have my past self." Then she reached over and gave Amanda a hug as well. "Bye Amanda." Then she let go and looked at Chekezie. He was indeed the most stubborn robot she'd ever met. But he was also the nicest. Then she gave him a hug, said good-bye to everyone one last time, and pushed the button. A blue glowing disc appeared out of nowhere and Future Carly walked through it. She was gone.

After a long pause, Carly said. "Wait! Family? Mommy? Husband? Am I gonna be a parent one day?"

Brooke sighed. "I really wish she would keep her big mouth shut."

"So," Carly said. "Who's this 'husband' I'm gonna get one day?"

"Why don't we just keep that a mystery," Brooke responded. Then David looked at Brooke in an anxious way as she winked at him with one of her blue eyes. "Oh my God, are you serious!" David shouted. Carly looked at him with a confused look on her face. "Serious about what?" David moved his eyes back and fourth. "Uh...never mind. Let's just work on getting out of here."


	13. Farewell Simon

**Chapter 13: Farewell Simon**

After a few minutes of planning, everyone grabbed the stuff they needed to head out. "Brooke, did you get the rope?" David asked as they all hid in a giant storage room filled with furniture, speakers, and some of Ryan's creepy "items". "Right here," Brooke answered as she showed him the long white rope. Then David turned to Mr. Cook. "Do you have the bus money?" he asked. "Uh huh," Mr. Cook answered his little partner in crime with tears. The thought of spending money was just so unbearable. Then finally, David turned to Jason. "Do you have the knife?" But Jason didn't answer. Instead his face was a ghostly white and his mouth was wide open. "David James Archuleta! I mean, I know you hate Simon but come on! That doesn't mean you have to..." but David cut him off. "Jason, I'm not going to kill him with the knife! We use it to cut the rope so he doesn't suspect anything until we're far away." Jason looked stunned. "What? Kill him? No, I thought you were gonna tie him up with this rope." For Jason, some things never change.

Then a thought came to David. "Oh, we forgot to pick who's going to distract Simon!" At that instant that storage room became filled with "Not me"s and "I'm not doing it"s and "Count me out"s. "Well someone has to do it!" David pleaded. "How about the tallest does it."

"What?!" Michael exclaimed, for he was the tallest of the group, standing at 6'3". "I'm not doing it. Besides, those bathroom windows are way too small. I'll never fit!"

"You're right." David said. Then he thought for a moment. "How about..."

"Don't you dare say the shortest!" Ramiele interrupted, for she was obviously the shortest while standing at only 4'11". "How about the youngest!" she suggested. Everyone seemed to agree on that one, except David. He was the youngest for he was only 19 years old.

"OK, fine!" he cried in defeat. "I'll do it! You guys go and I'll find Simon." So they all left. But Carly wasn't happy with this idea. "Go, Carly!" David ordered while she continued to stay in the storage room with him. "I won't let you do this, David. I just won't," she pleaded.

"Why not?" he asked. "It's not that dangerous."

"Yes it is!" she said. "If you get on his nerves too much he could kill you! And I won't be there to stop him!"

David noticed how worried Carly was and wanted to assure her that everything was going to be OK. "Please, trust me! I'm not as weak or as sensitive as you think! I'm nineteen! I can handle it."

Carly looked at him as if she were about to cry. "You're right. You're not that same goofy little kid that I met eight years ago. I mean you were eleven! And now, you've really grown and this whole experience and everything that's been going on has been tough." Then she did start to cry a little. "And I don't want to sound like a mother, but...I'm really proud." Then David grabbed Carly's hands, pulled her in and shared another long and romantic kiss. To Carly, it was as amazing as the first. Who knew that after eight years of being just friends, they would finally be together? It was the position in life they belonged in. David and Carly made each other happy and feel important in the world. And they both knew that no matter how much things may change, they will always have each other.

During this, Brooke came back into the room. "Whoa!" she said as soon as she walked in. "Didn't need to see that." David and Carly stopped kissing and laughed. "Come on love birds!" Brooke told them. "We can't leave until Simon is distracted!" Brooke grabbed Carly by the wrist and while being dragged out, Carly gave David a girly little wave. Then he left the room and found Simon in his own room.

"Hey, Simon!" David said as soon as he entered.

"What is it now, David?" he asked in an annoyed tone. He seemed to be writing a letter of some sort, but David couldn't figure out what it was. It didn't matter anyways.

"I was just wondering..." David thought about it for a moment. "Who's your favorite singer?"

Simon peered over at him with a confused look on his face. He decided to answer him anyway. What else was there to do except write his letter? "Leona Lewis," he answered.

"So that's why you liked me and Carly's song," David said. "What's your favorite show? Like, TV show?"

"_X Factor_." Simon answered.

"_X Factor_?" David didn't seem to know what that was. "What's that?"

"It's an English show." Simon replied. "Are we done with these questions?"

"Not yet." David said. "What's your favorite color?"

"Gray."

"Favorite movie?"

"_Titanic_."

"Favorite song?"

"_You're the Voice_."

"Seriously?" David asked. "Me too! Wow, what else do we have in common?"

"Are you quite finished?" Simon asked again.

David looked at his watch. Everyone was probably out by now. "I guess. Sure. Well I gotta take a..."

"OK!" Simon cut him off before he could say anything else. "Just leave."

"Number two!" David quickly said as he left. Simon rolled his eyes and went back to his letter.

David ran as quickly as he could to the restroom. He tried to open up the door to the men's restroom, but the door was locked. _Figures__,_ he thought. _Oh well. I'll just go through the girl's restroom. I mean nobody's in there._ He pulled on the door to the women's restroom. It was unlocked so he went inside. It was a little strange being inside the women's restroom. _Where are all the urinals?_ he thought._ And why is there a tampon machine anyways? Why can't girls ever remember to bring their own?_ Then he looked into one of the stalls. _Why are there little trash cans in here? _he asked himself. The girl's restroom was indeed a strange place. But it didn't matter. All that mattered was trying to squeeze through that little window. Carly agreed to be outside underneath the window to catch him when he crawled out since the window was high off the ground. David climbed onto one of the stalls closest to the window and reached as far as he could. He managed to pull himself through the window, but his legs were dangling instead of his upper body like he had hoped. Then he heard Carly say something.

"David? Where are you? Come on before Simon finds out! Please!" she said. _What?!_ David thought. _Can't she see my legs? Or at least my feet? How hard is it to see a pair of Chuck Taylor high-tops?!_

The reason for this happening was because Carly was underneath the window to the _men's_ restroom. Then she looked up at the window for the women's restroom, and lo and behold, there were David's legs in his blue jeans kicking against the wall. "David!" Carly shouted at him. "Why did you go through the girl's room?"

"Because the guy's restroom was locked," he managed to say despite his uncomfortable position. "Just...just..." he tried to pull himself out of the window, but alas could not. Then he sighed, "I'm stuck".

"Great." Carly complained under her breath. She grabbed onto his ankles and pulled as hard as she could. Then she stopped. "Does that hurt?" she asked him.

"No, no." David answered. "It's just the most painful thing ever!" he cried. Carly kept pulling, and after several tries, David managed to squeeze himself out. This resulted in falling, and right on top of his girlfriend. Carly couldn't get up until David did, which it seemed like he didn't want to. "David." she said.

"Yeah?" he responded.

"Get off of me."

"Right," Then he got up and so did she. He was blushing like mad! His face was redder than a tomato, and Carly noticed. She smiled. "What are you all red about?" she asked. David put a hand up to his left cheek. It was flaming hot! "Woah," he said quietly. "Anyway," Carly continued. "Come on! We gotta go now!" With that she grabbed David's hand and ran to meet up with the others in the parking lot.

"What took you so long?" Syesha asked Carly and David once they got to the parking lot.

"David got stuck in the window." Carly answered. That's classic David for you.

"Yeah, David." Jason said to his friend. "You seriously need to lose a few pounds."

The minute Jason finished saying that, David's mouth was wide open. "What?!" he cried. "I do not! If anyone does it's..."

"Dude, David. No I don't, OK?" Mr. Cook interrupted before David could finish.

"Can we just quite arguing and leave, already!" Syesha demanded. It was important that they left immediately before Simon spotted them. So they all ran down the street to the bus stop. Syesha again had trouble running due to her high-heeled shoes. But she managed to make it to the bus stop with everyone else. As soon as they got there, a blue and white bus stopped at the bus stop and plenty of passengers went off. Michael grabbed one of them and whispered into their ear, "Whatever you do, don't go into the _American Idol_ studio." Then he let go of the person and they walked away, very confused. Then, Simon's now former works got onto the bus while Mr. Cook handed the driver the money. They driver tried to pull it out or Mr. Cook's grip, but it was too hard. "Hey! Let go!" the bus driver said. "David!" Kristy Lee shouted at him. Mr. Cook let go of the money and glumly walked away back to his seat next to Kristy.

"I'm really proud of you," she said patting him on the back.

"Thanks," he answered. "But why me? Why do I have to have such an...obsession? Why me?"

"That's just part of who you are." Kristy said. "But if you ever want your obsession to go away, you're going to have to give it up."

"Give up money?" Mr. Cook asked her.

"Yes, David! I mean, your worse then that one guy on _SpongeBob_!" she said.

"Mr. Krabs!" Little David shouted, who was too seats behind them sitting with Jason, while Carly and Brooke were across from them.

"At least try to give it up. Please?" Kristy Lee begged. She began giving her cousin the puppy dog treatment.

"Oh no, Kristy. Not the eyes!" Mr. Cook tried to look away but just couldn't. He eventually caved in. "Alright," he sighed. "I'll do it."

"WHOOOHOOO!!!!" everyone on the bus shouted simultaneously.

"This is awesome!" Kristy said. "Now, you make more money than most of us so quit going to the dollar store and go to Wall-Mart already! Buy a new car! You ain't looking so good. It could break down any second. Also, you need a major house make-over. I'll help with that but **YOU'RE** paying. Do we have a deal?"

Mr. Cook looked at her hand. He thought about it for a moment. "Deal," he said, shaking her hand. Then everybody shouted again. "WHOOOHOOO!!!!"

After about an hour of riding in the bus, Brooke asked Carly. "How much longer until San Francisco?"

"Um..." Carly looked at her watch. "About four hours."

"What?!" Brooke exclaimed. "I can't wait four more hours! I'm starving!"

"I'm sure you'll be fine." Carly said. Then she looked at Jason. "Jason's eating the gum off the bottom of the seats."

"It's good!" Jason answered her with a mouth full of gum. Then he turned to his best friend. "Hey David, you want some?"

David just ignored him and looked at Carly. "How about we sing some songs?"

"What?" Carly asked him. "Why?"

"To make the time pass. I mean, everyone looks pretty bored. And Brooke looks like she's about to die of boredom."

"If singing will give me something to do, them I'm up for it," Brooke said to both David and Carly, her two new friends.

"What should we sing?" Jason asked, who had just swallowed the last piece of gum.

David thought about it for a moment. Then he starting singing loudly so everyone could hear, "I probably shouldn't say this  
But at times I get so scared  
When I think about the previous  
Experience we shared  
It was awesome, it was dreadful  
It's not possible for me not to care."

Once everyone recognized the tune, they began clapping to the beat of the song while David continued to sing.

"And now we've almost cleared the rain  
But nothing's ever gonna change 'til Simon hears  
My tears."

Now everyone has smiles on their faces as they took a deep breath to shout, "The seven things we hate about him! The seven things we hate about him!  
Simon  
He's vain  
His games  
He's insecure  
He loves it when we're hurt  
He never laughs, he made us cry, I hate that look that's in his eye  
Us friends, we're jerks if he act like him, just know it hurts  
I wanna be in San Francisco  
And those seven things I hate the most that he'll do  
Everything is true."

Then Amanda began singing by herself, while surprisingly she was really good. "It's awkward and silent  
As we wait for him to say  
What we need to hear now  
A sincere apology  
If he mean it I'll believe it  
If he texts it I'll delete it  
Let's be clear  
Oh, we're not going back  
We're starting, some brand new lives here."

Then everyone joined in again. "The seven things we hate about him  
He's vain  
His games  
He's insecure  
He loves it when we're hurt  
He never laughs, he made us cry, I hate that look that's in your eye  
Us friends, we're jerks if he act like him, just know it hurts  
I wanna be in San Francisco  
And those seven things I hate the most that he'll do  
Everything is true."

Then Ramiele, quivering with fear, began to sing by herself. This left Danny, who was sitting next to her, in a loss of words. "And compared to all the great things  
That would take too long to write  
I probably should mention  
The seven that I like...Come on, everybody!"

Everyone did as she said and joined in one last time. "The seven things we like about him  
He's nice  
He's kind  
He's really fine  
He makes everything alright  
But those ain't true. He's not that cool. Run before the Simon rule  
He's last in line, he's made of slime, and it's not alright  
I wanna be in San Francisco  
And those seven things I like the most that he'll do  
None of them are true."

Once the song was over, everyone began clapping. Then Danny looked at Ramiele. "Wow," he said. "That was really amazing!"

"Seriously?" Ramiele asked him.

"Defiantly! It was incredible!" he answered.

"Aww. Thank you!" she said placing her right hand over her heart as a sign of appreciation.

"Hey, Ramiele," Danny began twittering his thumbs. "I've been meaning to ask you this for about a week now, but..." he hesitated. "Do you want to go out with me?"

Ramiele looked stunned. She had known Danny since they were in diapers but were never that good of friends. Now he wanted to date her. "Sure," she answered him. "Why not?"

"Awesome!" Danny said. Then they began talking some more.

"Leader of the pack, I see." Carly said to David. "Clever use of changing the song, but why Miley?"

"Have you seen her?" David said. "She's hot!"

Carly glared at David with anger in her blue eyes. "Not as much as you, though." David quickly said. Then Carly smiled once more.


	14. One Step Further

**Chapter 14: One Step Further**

"'Cause the world keeps spinning  
'Round and 'round  
And my heart's keeping time  
To the speed of sound  
I was lost 'til I heard the drums  
Then I found my way  
'Cause you cant stop the beat

Ever since we first saw the light  
A man and woman liked to shake it  
On a Saturday night  
And so I'm gonna shake and shimmy it  
With all my might today  
'Cause you can't stop  
The motion of the ocean  
Or the rain from above  
They can try to stop this paradise  
We're dreaming of  
But you cannot stop the rhythm  
Of two hearts in love to stay  
You can't stop the beat!"

Everyone on the bus was singing, even the driver. Everyone had been on the bus for over five hours non-stop. Ever since David got everyone singing _7 Things_, they all began singing songs like _We Will Rock You_ to start off, but then the songs got more complicated like _I Kissed a Girl_, _Circus_, _When I Grow Up_, _Don't Trust Me_ and now they had just finished _You Can't Stop the Beat_ from the movie _Hairspray_.

"Hey, everyone! We're almost there!" the driver shouted so all could hear. Everyone then began cheering and hollering. They were obviously excited to go home.

"I can't believe we're finally going home." David said to Carly.

"Well believe it, 'cause we're almost there. Just a few more minutes," Carly responded.

"We all have really been through a lot this past month, it's incredible," David said. "We should do something."

"What do you mean?" Carly asked.

"A party!" David answered. "Yeah, we could all throw ourselves a party!"

"Aren't we having a party right now?" Carly asked him.

"Carly. We're on a bus." David said giving her a weird look.

"A party does sound like a good idea," Carly said. Then she stood up and shouted "Hey everyone! David's throwing a party for all of us tonight!" Then everyone began cheering again.

"What? Tonight?!" David exclaimed, looking at Carly with the largest of eyes.

"Yeah! I mean, what better night then tonight! Right?" she said.

"I guess," David responded.

While everyone was still talking about the party, the bus suddenly stopped. "All right! We're finally here!" the driver said. The cheering began once more as they all ran off the bus and down to Union Square where the majority of them lived. Carly agreed to let Brooke stay with her until she found a home, while Chekezie stayed with Mr. Cook, and Amanda stayed with Kristy Lee.

About two hours later, it was party time. Kristy's backyard was huge so she let David use it for the night. All the horses were locked away in the barn and all the crap was cleaned up as well. David and Kristy had set up tables with food and drinks along with his massive stereo system and both of their iPods. Once everything was set up and everyone got there, the music started playing and everyone began to have a good time. When the first song began to play, David made a face and looked at Kristy.

"Please tell me this isn't what I think it is," he complained.

"Oh yeah! _Save a Horse, Ride a __**Kristy**_! Whoo!" she yelled while dancing herself away and socializing with others.

At that time, Michael came over to talk with David. "Hey, David. There's something I'd like to say, and it's not easy. But...I'm sorry." he managed say.

David wasn't quite sure what Michael was talking about. "Sorry for what?"

Michael sighed. "Everything. You know...involving Carly."

"Oh," David said looking at the ground. Then he looked back up at Michael. "It's OK. You didn't know I liked her."

Michael looked at Carly along with David doing the same. "She's a prize, that's for sure. You're lucky to have someone like that. Unlike me who's wife is across the globe. I don't know if she even remembers me!"

David turned his head towards Michael once again. He had a sympathetic look on his face. "Michael, I'm sure you'll find the right one someday."

Michael looked at David. "You really think so?" he asked.

"Positive." David answered.

After a few seconds of silence, Michael finally spoke up. "You know...I've always thought of maybe getting back together with Kristy."

Then David gave him a push. "Talk to her!" he said and Michael walked off.

During this, Ramiele and Danny were sitting over at two of the chairs. Ramiele had her acoustic guitar in her hands as she strummed along with the song playing. Then Danny got up and turned off the music.

"What gives?" Mr. Cook shouted.

"Come on! Play something!" Danny said to Ramiele.

"What?!" she exclaimed. "No, I can't."

"Come on, Rami. Please?" Danny pleaded with puppy-dog eyes. "You're really good!"

Ramiele stood up. "OK." she said quivering a little. Then she stood up in front of everyone and began to play and sing. "We don't have to try  
To think the same thoughts  
We just have a way  
Of knowing everything's gonna be ok

We'll laugh 'til we cry  
Read each others minds  
Live with a smile  
Make it all worthwhile  
Make it all worthwhile."

Then everyone began clapping with the beat as Ramiele continued to sing. Now she had full confidence and was no longer shaking.

"Life has moments hard to describe  
Feeling great and feeling alive  
Never coming down from this  
Mountain we're on

Always knowing we're gonna be fine  
Feeling great and feeling alive  
Never coming down from this  
Mountain were on  
The feeling so clear  
And it's crazy up here  
Life is amazing with you on the ride

We don't wanna sleep  
Just wanna stay up  
There's so much to say  
And not enough hours in the day

We'll laugh 'til we cry  
Read each others minds  
Live with a smile  
Make it all worthwhile  
Make it all worthwhile

Life has moments hard to describe  
Feeling great and feeling alive  
Never coming down from this  
Mountain we're on

Always knowing we're gonna be fine  
Feeling great and feeling alive  
Never coming down from this  
Mountain were on  
The feelings so clear  
And it's crazy up here  
Life is amazing with you on the ride

No time to be lazy  
The journey is perfect  
The pace is so crazy  
The race is so worth it  
I will be with you  
We'll do this together  
Always together

Life has moments hard to describe  
Feeling great and feeling alive  
Never coming down from this  
Mountain we're on  
(Mountain we're on)

Always knowing we're gonna be fine  
Feeling great and feeling alive  
Never coming down from this  
Never comin' down  
Never comin' down  
Never comin' down (from this)

Always knowing were gonna be fine  
Feeling great and feeling alive  
Never coming down from this  
Mountain were on  
(Never coming down from this)

The feeling's so clear and it's crazy up here  
Life is amazing with you on the ride  
The place so is crazy  
The race is so worth it  
Life is amazing with you on the ride."

Everyone was now clapping and cheering for her. Ramiele was truly an incredible singer and was even better when she was confident.

"Ramiele! You were fantastic! Even better than on the bus!" David said as he gave her a great, big, bear-hug. All this praising was nice and all, but Ramiele began to feel like she had just won the final jam in _Camp Rock_ or something.

A few hours later the party was over and everyone had left for their homes. Tomorrow was a new day and their lives in San Francisco would continue once more.

"That was some party." Jason said to David as they walked home.

"Thanks. I figured it would be a good way to end this whole experience." David replied.

Jason looked confused. "What experience?"

"The one with Simon and L.A. and _American Idol_. Remember?" David asked his not-so-genius friend.

"Nope," Jason answered. "But change of subject, what's going on between you and Carly? Are you guys together forever?"

"Well, we're together. I don't know about forever, but we're together." David responded, looking at the ground as he always did when he felt uncomfortable. He tried to change the subject. "But the real question is: what's going on with you and Syesha?"

Jason grinded his teeth. "I don't know. I guess I'm just waiting 'til I know for sure if she likes me. Then it's not that awkward...like it was for you."

David laughed. "Yeah, that was a bit awkward. First I was shaking, then crying, then next thing I know I'm..."

"Making out!" Jason exclaimed cutting off his friend. Then the both of them laughter even harder. They stopped once they were at Jason's house. "Well, I don't care how much more making out you two love birds do, just not in front of me! Well, goodnight." Jason said while walking inside his house.

David continued to walk alongside the road. His house was only two down from Jason's with Danny's in between theirs. As he walked, David thought of all that Michael and Jason said about him and Carly. Were they really going to be together forever? Was it really right? Did Carly want that? Did HE want that? David pulled out a little black box from his pocket at looked at it. He knew that this task would take a lot of courage and bravery, but he knew he could do it. When you really, truly want something, you'll have enough courage to get it. And when you really, truly love someone, you want to be with them FOREVER. Until the end of time or as long as you shall live. For better or worse, for rich or for poor, in sickness and in health.

_If everything goes as I plan,_ David thought as he entered his house with Archy at his feet. _Tomorrow just might be the start of the rest of my life._

A moment later, the phone rang. David picked it up to hear his one love's sweet Irish voice. "Hi David," she said. "Not to bother you, but I'm having such a hard time sleeping. Any ideas on how I can fall asleep faster?"

David's smile was insanely huge now. "Have you ever heard a little song called _Crush_?" he asked into the receiver.

"No." Carly answered. "Is it good?"

David's smile grew another few sizes as he began to sing. During this he thought, _tomorrow is DEFINALTY going to be an amazing day._

**The End**

**Peace**

**3**

(COMING SOON: _Little Wonders_, the sequel to the 1st ever DavidxCarly tale.)


	15. Author's Notes

**Author's Notes:**

I just want to say thank you to everyone who read _It's Not Easy Being an Idol_! Writing stories is my life. It's my dream to have my stories published. Please review, it would mean the world to me!

Here are some hidden facts about this story that you may not know:

This inspiration came from reading a SpongeBob fan fiction on this site. I LOVED the storyline, but I can't stand the characters so I changed them to American Idols, changed the setting, the dialogue, and gave it my own personal touch.

I began writing _It's Not Easy Being an Idol_ when I was twelve-years-old during _American Idol_ season seven. It was about the time when there were only 10-8 contestants left. The first eleven chapter were written within a month, however, the rest was not completed until August 2008.

This story grew to fame on under my account iLuvDC63 (don't try to message me, I never use it anymore). I posted it on my blog, which soon became the 6th most popular blog on the site. And let me tell you, the blogs I competed against were VERY interesting. As far as I know, I was the only one in that top ten to have a fan fiction, so I was honored. Sadly, in later 2008, deleted all fan fiction from their site.

During the beginning of the writing process, I was not a major David Archuleta. I though he was okay. Actually, I didn't really think much of him. All I knew was that he fit the bill for the main character's personality; also, many _American Idol_ fans adored him, which came to my advantage in the popular blogs.

In late 2007, a story very similar to this was written by me. It was titled _Alexa's Big Adventure_ and was about a girl named Alexa (David) and her friends, Matt (Carly), Stephanie (Jason), Bobby (Danny, and the rest of the gang who were trapped on an old boat (_American Idol_ studio) by Lindsay Lohan (Simon). Basically, the only major difference between the two stories is the characters and setting. _Alexa's Big Adventure_ became the biggest gossip story in my school that year, for the majority of the characters were my classmates. The story, however, was never finished but what I had done was read by Alexa herself. Yes, she was shocked.

The sequel for this story is already completed and on my computer. It will be released shortly.

I wrote this story before I knew what San Francisco was known for. As of now, none of the characters are gay. If you would like some of them to be, let me know.

THANKS AGAIN FOR YOUR SUPPORT!

PEACE

LOVE

GOKEHEAD


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